Habitat fragmentation effects on insect herbivory in Chaco Serrano woodlands

VIDELA, M.; CAGNOLO, L.; VALLADARES G.; SALVO, A.; FENOGLIO, M. S.

IALE Landscape Research and Management papers. Understanding Biodiversity Loss

International Association of Landscape Ecology

Lugar: Utrecht; Año: 2007 p. 86 - 93

1570-6532

Loss of species and changes in community composition derived from habitat fragmentation could affect interactions among species and ecological processes. Herbivory is a key process for energy and nutrient transfer to higher trophic levels, nutrient cycling and plant competitive balance. Despite its importance and widespread study in other contexts, herbivory have rarely been investigated in relation to habitat fragmentation. We compared insect herbivory rates in continuous and fragmented woodlands, separately considering damage by different feeding guilds. Herbivory, mostly by leaf chewers, was lower in remnants than in the original woodlands. This result was not attributable to changes in plant species composition or in relative damage by the different guilds. We have provided the first evidence of habitat fragmentation effects on overall herbivory rates at the plant community level. The consistency of these effects and the underlying mechanisms deserve further study.