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Historically, terrestrial food web theory has been compartmentalized into interactions among aboveground or belowground communities. In this study we took a more synthetic approach to understanding food web interactions by simultaneously examining four trophic levels and investigating how nutrient (nitrogen and carbon) and detrital subsidies impact the ability of the belowground microbial community to alter the abundance of aboveground arthropods (herbivores and predators) associated with the intertidal cord grass Spartina alterniflora. We manipulated carbon, nitrogen, and detrital resources in a field experiment and measured decomposition rate, soil nitrogen pools, plant biomass and quality, herbivore density,...
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We collected data on tolerance using comparative approaches in a clade of mustards, emphasizing the variety of contexts in which damage is realistically tolerated. We estimated tolerance to leaf damage, tolerance to apical clipping at the bolting stage-- simulating browsing--, and resistance to a specialist and generalist lepidopteran herbivore for a group of native mustards, grown in field soils unique to each population and in a common potting soil.
We examined patterns of herbivory in the dioecious desert shrub, Ephedra trifurca (Ephedraceae), along a small watershed in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. We documented significant (p=0.002) sexual dimorphism in densities of Lasioptera ephedrae and L. ephedricola (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), with male E. trifurca supporting higher densities than did females. Densities of gall midges varied significantly (p<0.001) among="" four="" sample="" populations="" of="">E. trifurca arrayed along the watershed and exhibited an inverse gradient with elevation. There was also a significant (p=0.006) sex-by-site interaction such that the degree of intersexual variation in gall densities decreased down the watershed. Variation in...
    map background search result map search result map Tolerance, phenology, and resistance data for streptanthus Tolerance, phenology, and resistance data for streptanthus