Species identity influences belowground arthropod assemblages via functional traits

Species identity influences belowground arthropod assemblages via functional traits

Plant species influence belowground communities in a variety of ways, ultimately impacting nutrient cycling. Functional plant traits provide a means whereby species identity can influence belowground community interactions, but little work has examined whether species identity influences belowground community processes when correcting for evolutionary history. Specifically, we hypothesized that...

Genetic Variation in Functional Traits Influences Arthropod Community Composition in Aspen (Populus tremula L.)

We conducted a study of natural variation in functional leaf traits and herbivory in 116 clones of European aspen, Populus tremula L., the Swedish Aspen (SwAsp) collection, originating from ten degrees of latitude across Sweden and grown in a common garden. In surveys of phytophagous arthropods over two years, we found the aspen canopy supports nearly 100 morphospecies. We identified significan...

Interactions between arthropod-induced aboveground and belowground defenses in plants.

Plants can be attacked by arthropods both above and below ground. The ensuing systemic defense response of the plant can affect even the most distant tissues. Both primary and secondary metabolic profiles of shoots can be altered upon root herbivory and vice versa (Gange and Brown, 1989; Bezemer et al., 2003; Hol et al., 2004; Schwachtje et al., 2006), making plants powerful mediators of intera...

Belowground fine root productivity, traits, and trees.

A long-standing debate in plant ecology is how plant diversity – including species richness, functional, and phylogenetic diversity – determines primary productivity aboveground and belowground (Tilman et al., 1997; Cadotte et al., 2009). A leading mechanism linking diversity and productivity posits that diverse assemblages of plants are more likely to complement each other in resource acquirin...

Disturbance alters arthropod community assembly 1 Aboveground and belowground arthropod communities experience different relative influences of stochastic and deterministic assembly processes following disturbance