Host specificity of Lepidoptera in tropical and temperate forests
It is suggested that greater specialization in tropical faunas is the result of differences in trophic interactions; for example, there are more distinct plant secondary chemical profiles from one tree species to the next in tropical forests than in temperate forests as well as more diverse and chronic pressures from natural enemy communities.
The global distribution of diet breadth in insect herbivores
- M. Forister, V. Novotný, L. Dyer
- Environmental ScienceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- 29 December 2014
A global dataset is used to investigate host range for over 7,500 insect herbivore species covering a wide taxonomic breadth and interacting with more than 2,000 species of plants in 165 families to ask whether relatively specialized and generalized herbivores represent a dichotomy rather than a continuum from few to many host families and species attacked and whether diet breadth changes with increasing plant species richness toward the tropics.
Patterns and correlates of interspecific variation in foliar insect herbivory and pathogen attack in Brazilian cerrado
- R. Marquis, I. Diniz, H. C. Morais
- BiologyJournal of Tropical Ecology
- 1 January 2001
Plant and leaf traits were correlated with interspecific variation in attack by herbivores and pathogens in order to account for differences among plant species, and protein availability and plant height were positive predictors of pathogen attack among plant Species, while leaf expansion rate was a significant negative predictor.
Climatic unpredictability and parasitism of caterpillars: implications of global warming.
- J. Stireman, L. Dyer, I. Diniz
- Environmental ScienceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…
- 10 October 2005
This work compares caterpillar-parasitoid interactions across a broad gradient of climatic variability and finds that the combined data in 15 geographically dispersed databases show a decrease in levels of parasitism as Climatic variability increases.
Host plants of Lycaenidae on inflorescences in the central Brazilian cerrado
- N. P. Silva, M. Duarte, I. Diniz, H. C. Morais
- BiologyThe journal of research on the Lepidoptera
- 2011
The Abundance of Insect Herbivore Species in the Tropics: The High Local Richness of Rare Species
- P. Price, I. Diniz, H. C. Morais, E. S. Marques
- Environmental Science
- 1 December 1995
The high richness of relatively rare species in the cerrado site poses challenges in understanding the reasons for such rarity, the organization of such assemblages, the gradient of species richness from low to high latitudes, the estimation of biodiversity, and conservation management.
Larval Biology of Anthophagous Eumaeini (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae, Theclinae) in the Cerrado of Central Brazil
- N. P. Silva, M. Duarte, Eliezer B. Araújo, H. C. Morais
- BiologyJournal of Insect Science
- 1 January 2014
The biology and morphology of the early stages of 22 species of Eumaeini (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae, Theclinae) are presented and Paiwarria aphaca (Hewitson) was highlighted because of the great difference observed between its first and last instars, as well as the marked difference between that species and the larvae of Paiwarrian umbratus (Geyer) documented in Costa Rica.
Shelter-building caterpillars in the cerrado: seasonal variation in relative abundance, parasitism, and the influence of extra-floral nectaries
- I. Diniz, J. Hay, V. Rico‐Gray, H. Greeney, H. C. Morais
- Environmental ScienceArthropod-Plant Interactions
- 24 July 2012
The results suggest that EFNs play an important role in structuring caterpillar assemblages in the cerrado, and that the prolific use of shelters by caterpillar may be a result of their effectiveness in protecting caterpillars from natural enemies and desiccation.
Host Plant Specialization and Species Turnover of Caterpillars Among Hosts in the Brazilian Cerrado
- H. C. Morais, E. R. Sujii, M. Almeida-Neto, P. S. de-Carvalho, J. Hay, I. Diniz
- Environmental Science, Biology
- 1 July 2011
Investigation of caterpillars in the Brazilian Cerrado finds that the number of orders and superorders of plants provide the greatest contribution to the total caterpillar richness compared with all of the other host taxonomic levels combined.
16. Interactions Among Cerrado Plants and Their Herbivores: Unique or Typical?
- R. Marquis, H. C. Morais, I. Diniz, P. Oliveira
- Environmental Science
- 31 January 2002
...
...