Cascading effects of a highly specialized beech-aphid–fungus interaction on forest regeneration
Specialist herbivores are thought to often enhance or maintain plant diversity within ecosystems, because they prevent their host species from becoming competitively dominant. In contrast, specialist herbivores are not generally expected to have negative impacts on non-hosts. However, we describe a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2014-06-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/442.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797419274386538496 |
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| author | Susan C. Cook-Patton Lauren Maynard Nathan P. Lemoine Jessica Shue John D. Parker |
| author_facet | Susan C. Cook-Patton Lauren Maynard Nathan P. Lemoine Jessica Shue John D. Parker |
| author_sort | Susan C. Cook-Patton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Specialist herbivores are thought to often enhance or maintain plant diversity within ecosystems, because they prevent their host species from becoming competitively dominant. In contrast, specialist herbivores are not generally expected to have negative impacts on non-hosts. However, we describe a cascade of indirect interactions whereby a specialist sooty mold (Scorias spongiosa) colonizes the honeydew from a specialist beech aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator), ultimately decreasing the survival of seedlings beneath American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia). A common garden experiment indicated that this mortality resulted from moldy honeydew impairing leaf function rather than from chemical or microbial changes to the soil. In addition, aphids consistently and repeatedly colonized the same large beech trees, suggesting that seedling-depauperate islands may form beneath these trees. Thus this highly specialized three-way beech-aphid–fungus interaction has the potential to negatively impact local forest regeneration via a cascade of indirect effects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:46:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1448a34f4c0947aca3b34677791d3caf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:46:01Z |
| publishDate | 2014-06-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-1448a34f4c0947aca3b34677791d3caf2023-12-03T10:35:08ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592014-06-012e44210.7717/peerj.442442Cascading effects of a highly specialized beech-aphid–fungus interaction on forest regenerationSusan C. Cook-Patton0Lauren Maynard1Nathan P. Lemoine2Jessica Shue3John D. Parker4Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, United StatesSmithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, United StatesFlorida International University, United StatesSmithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, United StatesSmithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, United StatesSpecialist herbivores are thought to often enhance or maintain plant diversity within ecosystems, because they prevent their host species from becoming competitively dominant. In contrast, specialist herbivores are not generally expected to have negative impacts on non-hosts. However, we describe a cascade of indirect interactions whereby a specialist sooty mold (Scorias spongiosa) colonizes the honeydew from a specialist beech aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator), ultimately decreasing the survival of seedlings beneath American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia). A common garden experiment indicated that this mortality resulted from moldy honeydew impairing leaf function rather than from chemical or microbial changes to the soil. In addition, aphids consistently and repeatedly colonized the same large beech trees, suggesting that seedling-depauperate islands may form beneath these trees. Thus this highly specialized three-way beech-aphid–fungus interaction has the potential to negatively impact local forest regeneration via a cascade of indirect effects.https://peerj.com/articles/442.pdfSeedling survival Grylloprociphilus imbricator Scorias spongiosa Forest regeneration Fagus grandifolia Specialist herbivore |
| spellingShingle | Susan C. Cook-Patton Lauren Maynard Nathan P. Lemoine Jessica Shue John D. Parker Cascading effects of a highly specialized beech-aphid–fungus interaction on forest regeneration PeerJ Seedling survival Grylloprociphilus imbricator Scorias spongiosa Forest regeneration Fagus grandifolia Specialist herbivore |
| title | Cascading effects of a highly specialized beech-aphid–fungus interaction on forest regeneration |
| title_full | Cascading effects of a highly specialized beech-aphid–fungus interaction on forest regeneration |
| title_fullStr | Cascading effects of a highly specialized beech-aphid–fungus interaction on forest regeneration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cascading effects of a highly specialized beech-aphid–fungus interaction on forest regeneration |
| title_short | Cascading effects of a highly specialized beech-aphid–fungus interaction on forest regeneration |
| title_sort | cascading effects of a highly specialized beech aphid fungus interaction on forest regeneration |
| topic | Seedling survival Grylloprociphilus imbricator Scorias spongiosa Forest regeneration Fagus grandifolia Specialist herbivore |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/442.pdf |
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