Authors: Fagundes, Marcílio¹; Neves, Frederico S.; Fernandes, G. Wilson²

Source: Ecological Entomology, Volume 30, Number 1, February 2005 , pp. 28-35(8)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Abstract:

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1. The relative importance of direct and indirect interactions in controlling organism abundance is still an unresolved question. This study investigated the role of the direct and indirect interactions involving ants, aphids, parasitoids, and the host plant Baccharis dracunculifolia(Asteraceae) on a galling herbivore Baccharopelma dracunculifoliae(Homoptera: Psyllidae).

2. The effects of these interactions on the galling herbivore's performance were evaluated by an exclusion experiment during two consecutive generations of the galling insect.

3. Ants had a direct negative effect on the performance of the galling herbivore by reducing the number of nymphs per gall. In contrast, ants had no indirect effects on gall mortality through the associated parasitoids.

4. Aphids negatively affected gall development, suggesting that galls and aphids might be partitioning photoassimilates and nutrients moving throughout host-plant tissues.

5. In addition, galls that developed during the rainy season were heavier, indicating that variation in the host plant, due to weather changes, can affect the development of B. dracunculifoliae galls. However, variation in the development of B. dracunculifoliae galls due to presence of aphids or the weather changes did not affect parasitoid attack.

6. These results suggest that direct interactions between ants and galls influenced galling insect abundance, whereas numerical indirect effects involving galling insects, ants, aphids, and host plants were less conspicuous.

Keywords: Ant–aphid–gall interactions; Baccharis dracunculifolia; direct effects; gall development; indirect effects

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0307-6946.2005.00668.x

Affiliations: 1: Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Brazil, 2: Ecologia Evolutiva de Herbívoros Tropicais, DBG/ICB, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil

Publication date: 2005-02-01

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