Within and Among Patch Variability in Patterns of Insect Herbivory Across a Fragmented Forest Landscape

PLoS One. 2016 Mar 3;11(3):e0150843. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150843. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Fragmentation changes the spatial patterns of landscapes in ways that can alter the flow of materials and species; however, our understanding of the consequences of this fragmentation and flow alteration for ecosystem processes and ecosystem services remains limited. As an ecological process that affects many ecosystem services and is sensitive to fragmentation, insect herbivory is a good model system for exploring the role of fragmentation, and the resulting spatial patterns of landscapes, in the provision of ecosystem services. To refine our knowledge of how changes in landscape pattern affect insect herbivory, we quantified the combined influence of among patch (patch area and patch connectivity) and within patch (location within patch; canopy, edge, interior) factors on amounts of insect herbivory in a fragmented forest landscape. We measured herbivory in 20 forest patches of differing size and connectivity in southern Quebec (Canada). Within each patch, herbivory was quantified at the interior, edge, and canopy of sugar maple trees during the spring and summer of 2011 and 2012. Results show that connectivity affects herbivory differently depending on the location within the patch (edge, interior, canopy), an effect that would have gone unnoticed if samples were pooled across locations. These results suggest considering structure at both the patch and within patch scales may help to elucidate patterns when studying the effects of fragmentation on ecosystem processes, with implications for the services they support.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • Demography
  • Ecology
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Forests*
  • Geography
  • Herbivory*
  • Insecta / physiology*
  • Models, Biological
  • Quebec
  • Trees*

Grants and funding

This research was supported by a McGill University Tomlinson Fellowship (https://www.mcgill.ca/gps/funding/students-postdocs/students/tomlinson) in Forest Ecology (DYM), an NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca) Strategic Projects Grant (EMB: RGPIN 327077-2013), and an NSERC Discovery Grant (CMB: RGPIN 261399-2013). This work was also made possible by an NSERC USRA (Undergraduate Student Research Award http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Students-Etudiants/UG-PC/USRA-BRPC_eng.asp) to the undergraduate assistant (TN) who is not an author, but appears in the Acknowledgments section of this manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.