TY - JOUR

T1 - Plant diversity effects on pollinating and herbivorous insects can be linked to plant stoichiometry

AU - Abbas, Maike

AU - Klein, Alexandra Maria

AU - Ebeling, Anne

AU - Oelmann, Yvonne

AU - Ptacnik, Robert

AU - Weisser, Wolfgang W.

AU - Hillebrand, Helmut

PY - 2014/3

Y1 - 2014/3

N2 - Changes in plant diversity have consequences for higher trophic levels, e.g., higher plant diversity can enhance the reproduction and fitness of plant-associated insects. This response of higher trophic levels potentially depends on diversity-related changes in both resource quantity (abundance) and quality (nutritional content). The availability of elemental nutrients in plant resources is one aspect of nutritional quality, but has rarely been addressed as a pathway relating plant diversity to associated insects. Using the experimental plant diversity gradient of a large biodiversity grassland project, the Jena-Experiment, we analysed the %C, %N and %P and the molar ratios of those elements (C:N, C:P and N:P) in a pollinating bee, Chelostoma distinctum, and an herbivorous grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus, reared on plots of different plant diversity. Insects showed higher content of C, N and P (% dry mass), and lower C:N and C:P ratios than plants. C:N ratios were significantly higher in grasshoppers than in bees and higher in females than in males of both species. Increasing plant species richness increased the C:N ratio of male bees and female grasshoppers. In both groups, stoichiometry was positively related to plant stoichiometry (male bees: C:P and N:P; grasshoppers: C:N and N:P). Path analysis revealed that diversity-driven changes in plant elemental composition can have consequences for abundance and chemical composition of higher trophic levels, with different responses of the two functional groups.

AB - Changes in plant diversity have consequences for higher trophic levels, e.g., higher plant diversity can enhance the reproduction and fitness of plant-associated insects. This response of higher trophic levels potentially depends on diversity-related changes in both resource quantity (abundance) and quality (nutritional content). The availability of elemental nutrients in plant resources is one aspect of nutritional quality, but has rarely been addressed as a pathway relating plant diversity to associated insects. Using the experimental plant diversity gradient of a large biodiversity grassland project, the Jena-Experiment, we analysed the %C, %N and %P and the molar ratios of those elements (C:N, C:P and N:P) in a pollinating bee, Chelostoma distinctum, and an herbivorous grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus, reared on plots of different plant diversity. Insects showed higher content of C, N and P (% dry mass), and lower C:N and C:P ratios than plants. C:N ratios were significantly higher in grasshoppers than in bees and higher in females than in males of both species. Increasing plant species richness increased the C:N ratio of male bees and female grasshoppers. In both groups, stoichiometry was positively related to plant stoichiometry (male bees: C:P and N:P; grasshoppers: C:N and N:P). Path analysis revealed that diversity-driven changes in plant elemental composition can have consequences for abundance and chemical composition of higher trophic levels, with different responses of the two functional groups.

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - CARBON

KW - Generalist grasshopper

KW - Grassland

KW - Nitrogen

KW - Phosphorus

KW - Plant-insect interactions

KW - Solitary bee

KW - Trophic levels

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84897058960&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.baae.2014.02.001

DO - 10.1016/j.baae.2014.02.001

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84897058960

VL - 15

SP - 169

EP - 178

JO - Basic and Applied Ecology

JF - Basic and Applied Ecology

SN - 1439-1791

IS - 2

ER -