The relationship between body mass and elemental composition in nymphs of the grasshopper Schistocerca americana

Boswell, Andrew; Provin, Tony; Behmer, Spencer T.

doi:10.1665/1082-6467-17.2.307

Cited by 23 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…However, P in and of itself can limit insect herbivore growth (Perkins et al 2004), and grasshop-pers/orthopterans certainly are good candidates to be P limited. A recent detailed laboratory study using a generalist grasshopper revealed P tissue levels at ;10 000 ppm (1% dry mass) (Boswell et al 2008), which is three to four times higher than the P concentrations recorded in our plants (see Fig. 1).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 71%

“…Like N, Mg is used for structural purposes, Na and K are involved in electrochemical function, including message transmission in nerves, cellular signaling, and energy metabolism, and Cu is used in catalytic roles (Frau´sto da Silva and Williams 1991). With the exception of K, these elements are found at low concentrations in plants and insect herbivores (Boswell et al 2008). However, low concentration does not mean these nutrients cannot influence ecological processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Not just the usual suspects: Insect herbivore populations and communities are associated with multiple plant nutrients

Joern

Provin

Behmer

2012

Ecology

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152

129

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Abstract. The relationship between plant nutrient content and insect herbivore populations and community structure has long interested ecologists. Insect herbivores require multiple nutrients, but ecologists have focused mostly on nitrogen (an estimate of plant protein content), and more recently phosphorus (P); other nutrients have received little attention. Here we document nutrient variation in grass and forb samples from grassland habitats in central Nebraska using an elemental approach; in total we measured foliar concentrations of 12 elements (N and P, plus S, B, Ca, Mg, Na, K, Zn, Fe, Mn, and Cu). We detected significant variability among sites for N, P, Mg, Na, K, and Cu. We next used a model selection approach to explore how this nutritional variation and plant biomass correlate with grasshopper densities (collectively and at the feeding-guild level), and principal component analysis to explore nutrient correlations with grasshopper community species composition. When all grasshoppers were pooled, densities varied among sites, but only P was associated with abundance of the elements shown to vary between sites. Different responses occurred at the feeding-guild level. For grass specialists, densities were associated with N, plus P, Mg, and Na. For forb specialists, N and P were often associated with density, but associations with Na and K were also observed. Finally, mixed-feeder abundance was strongly associated with biomass, and to a lesser extent P, Mg, Na, and Cu. At the community level, B, Ca, Zn, and Cu, plus biomass, explained .30% of species composition variation. Our results confirm the positive association of N and P with insect herbivore populations, while suggesting a potential role for Mg, Na, and K. They also demonstrate the importance of exploring effects at the feeding-guild level. We hope our data motivate ecologists to think beyond N and P when considering plant nutrient effects on insect herbivores, and make a call for studies to examine functional responses of insect herbivores to dietary manipulation of Mg, Na, and K. Finally, our results demonstrate correlations between variation in nutrients and species assemblages, but factors not linked to plant nutrient quality or biomass likely explain most of the observed variation.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 71%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Not just the usual suspects: Insect herbivore populations and communities are associated with multiple plant nutrients

Joern

Provin

Behmer

2012

Ecology

Self Cite

152

129

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“…Joern et al (2012) compared elemental compositions of grasses and forbs collected from central Nebraskan grasslands and found a P range from about 1500 to 3600 ppm (0.15-0.36%P). Boswell et al (2008) showed that Schistocerca americana grasshoppers maintained a body P content of about 1% throughout development, which is at least threefold higher than the values for host plants reported by Joern et al (2012). Surprisingly, as yet there are few studies of terrestrial herbivores that have measured the effect of dietary P level below 0.45%P and across the ecologically observed range on consumer growth and survival.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Comparisons of the P content (%P, as percentage of dry mass and generally dominant in determining C:P ratio) of the plants and herbivores of freshwater and terrestrial systems suggest that P limitation should be as common in terrestrial ecosystems as it is in aquatic systems (Boswell et al, 2008;Elser et al, 2000a;Joern et al, 2012;Lemoine et al, 2014). This contention is supported by experimental tests of plant nutrient limitation (Bishop et al, 2010;Elser et al, 2007) and correlations between host plant P content and grasshopper abundance (Joern et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The relative availability of various nutrients strongly affects the growth and fitness of herbivores, whose biomass generally contains much greater concentrations and different ratios of elements such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) relative to plants (Boswell et al, 2008;Sterner and Elser, 2002). The relative availabilities of carbohydrate and protein [or carbon (C) and N] have been shown to be particularly important, and many recent studies have shown that feeding rates, choices and performance of a diversity of animals can be explained by the dietary carbohydrate:protein ratio (Behmer, 2009;Simpson and Raubenheimer, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dietary phosphate affects food selection, post-ingestive P fate, and performance of a polyphagous herbivore

Cease

Fay

Elser

et al. 2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Comparisons of the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus (P) content of plants and insect herbivores suggests that P limitation and herbivore foraging to balance P intake could be common. However, the lack of synthetic diets for testing the effects of lower ranges of dietary P has been a major impediment to experimental assessment of the ecological importance of, and physiological responses to, P limitation for terrestrial herbivores. We manipulated dietary P content (%P) over its observed range in terrestrial foliage using artificial diets containing near-optimal content of other nutrients for the grasshopper Schistocerca americana. Over much of the ecologically relevant range, when consuming single diets over a lifetime, higher P stimulated growth rates and increased survival, with an optimal dietary %P of 0.25-0.50% when measured throughout development. Excessive dietary P (1%) reduced growth and survival. However, with only short-term (3 day) confinement to single diets, dietary P had no effect on food consumption or growth rates. During these short exposures, fifth (but not third) instar hoppers increased the proportion of P excreted relative to P assimilated as dietary P increased. Target experiments demonstrated that, when given a choice, grasshoppers select among foods to attain a P intake target of 0.6%. These data suggest that P limitation could be common for terrestrial insect herbivores and that they can exhibit ingestive and post-ingestive mechanisms to attain sufficient but not excessive P.

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Insect Herbivore Outbreaks Viewed through a Physiological Framework: Insights from Orthoptera

Behmer

Joern

2012

Insect Outbreaks Revisited

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For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.Exodus 10:15 (King James Version)The Cloud was hailing grasshoppers. The cloud was grasshoppers. Their bodies hid the sun and made darkness. Their thin, large wings gleamed and glittered. The rasping whirring of their wings filled the whole air and they hit the ground and the house with the noise of a hailstorm.On the Banks of Plum Creek (by Laura Ingalls Wilder)

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The relationship between body mass and elemental composition in nymphs of the grasshopper Schistocerca americana

Cited by 23 publications

References 33 publications

Not just the usual suspects: Insect herbivore populations and communities are associated with multiple plant nutrients

Not just the usual suspects: Insect herbivore populations and communities are associated with multiple plant nutrients

Dietary phosphate affects food selection, post-ingestive P fate, and performance of a polyphagous herbivore

Insect Herbivore Outbreaks Viewed through a Physiological Framework: Insights from Orthoptera

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