熱帯雨林には,なぜ多くの種の草食昆虫がいるのでしょうか?
Vojtech Novotny1, Pavel Drozd, Scott E Miller
1Institute of Entomology, Czech Academy of Sciences and Department of Zoology, University of South Bohemia, Branisovska 31, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. novotny@entu.cas.cz
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|July 15, 2006
まとめ
熱帯の昆虫の多様性は,狭い草食動物の食事ではなく,植物の多様性によって引き起こされる可能性があります. 温帯雨林と熱帯雨林を比較した研究では,似たような昆虫の数と宿主特異性が見つかっており,植物多様性が昆虫種の豊かさの鍵であることを示唆しています.
科学分野:
- エコロジー エコロジー エコロジー
- エントモロジー エントモロジー学
- 森林科学 森林科学 森林科学
背景:
- 熱帯雨林における樹種の共存の仕組みを理解する作業は進んでいる.
- 熱帯植物における草食昆虫の広範な多様性に対する明確な説明は,未だに難解である.
研究 の 目的:
- 多様なコミュニティにおける草食動物種の共存が,狭い宿主特異性を反映するという仮説を検証する.
- 温帯と熱帯の木の葉食昆虫を比較して,昆虫の多様性のパターンを理解する.
主な方法:
- 比較された葉を食う昆虫のコミュニティは,比較可能な系統遺伝的分布を持つ温帯と熱帯の木です.
- 葉を食う昆虫の種類を100平方メートルあたり数値化した.
- 温帯と熱帯の昆虫群の宿主特異性の違いを評価した.
主要な成果:
- 温帯と熱帯の樹木は,葉を食う昆虫種の数も同様であった (100m2あたり29.0 +/- 2.2対23.5 +/- 1.8).
- ホストの特異性は,温帯と熱帯の昆虫群の間で有意に異なるものではありません.
- 植物多様性は温帯から熱帯の研究場所から7倍に増加しました.
結論:
- 食物資源は,温帯雨林の葉を食べる昆虫の間で,温帯雨林と比較して,より細かく分割されていません.
- 昆虫種の豊かさの緯度グラデーションは,植物多様性の直接的な関数である可能性があります.
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