Multiscale spatial analysis of two plant–insect interactions: Effects of landscape, resource distribution, and other insects
Pocull Belles G, Baskett C, Barton NH. 2024. Multiscale spatial analysis of two plant–insect interactions: Effects of landscape, resource distribution, and other insects. Landscape Ecology. 39(9), 172.
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Abstract
Context: Biotic resource exploitation is a critical determinant of species’ distributions. However, quantifying resource exploitation patterns through space and time can be difficult, complicating their incorporation in spatial ecology studies. Therefore, understanding the local drivers of spatial patterns of resource exploitation may contribute to better large-scale species distribution models.
Objectives: We investigated (1) how the resource exploitation patterns of two trophic interactions (plant–insect) are explained by insect behaviour, resource aggregation, and potential insect-insect interactions. We also analyzed how (2) resource patch size and (3) resource accessibility in a heterogeneous landscape affected host exploitation patterns.
Methods: We quantified nectar robbing by insects in the genus Bombus (bumblebees) and seed predation by Brachypterolus vestitus larvae (Antirrhinum beetle) on Antirrhinum majus L. (wild snapdragons) in the Pyrenees Mountains, Catalonia, Spain. We tested hypotheses about resource exploitation by integrating spatial analyses at multiple scales.
Results: Both trophic interactions were aggregated, explained by the aggregation of their resource. At some scales, nectar robbing is more aggregated than the resource. Trophic interaction abundance is proportional to resource patch size, following the ideal free distribution model. Landscape features do not explain the locations exploited. Nectar robbing and seed predation occur together more often than expected.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that multiple biotic and ecological spatial factors may simultaneously affect resource exploitation at a local scale. These findings should be considered when developing agricultural projects, management plans and conservation policies.
Publishing Year
Date Published
2024-09-01
Journal Title
Landscape Ecology
Acknowledgement
For the beetle barcoding, we are very thankful to Brent Emerson’s laboratory at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) at the Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (IPNA) in La Laguna, Tenerife. Many thanks to numerous field assistants, especially Sandra Cuevas Gallego, Beatriz Pablo Carmona, Luís Santos Cid and Alex Fuster, for their assistance in data collection. Finally, we thank Jesús Muñoz, Virgilio Gómez-Rubio, and two anonymous reviewers for comments that greatly improved the quality of the manuscript.
Open access funding provided by Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria). CB received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 754411. NB was funded by the FWF grant “Löwenmaul speciation” P 32166-B32.
Volume
39
Issue
9
Article Number
172
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eISSN
IST-REx-ID
Cite this
Pocull Belles G, Baskett C, Barton NH. Multiscale spatial analysis of two plant–insect interactions: Effects of landscape, resource distribution, and other insects. Landscape Ecology. 2024;39(9). doi:10.1007/s10980-024-01899-9
Pocull Belles, G., Baskett, C., & Barton, N. H. (2024). Multiscale spatial analysis of two plant–insect interactions: Effects of landscape, resource distribution, and other insects. Landscape Ecology. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01899-9
Pocull Belles, Guillem, Carina Baskett, and Nicholas H Barton. “Multiscale Spatial Analysis of Two Plant–Insect Interactions: Effects of Landscape, Resource Distribution, and Other Insects.” Landscape Ecology. Springer Nature, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-024-01899-9.
G. Pocull Belles, C. Baskett, and N. H. Barton, “Multiscale spatial analysis of two plant–insect interactions: Effects of landscape, resource distribution, and other insects,” Landscape Ecology, vol. 39, no. 9. Springer Nature, 2024.
Pocull Belles G, Baskett C, Barton NH. 2024. Multiscale spatial analysis of two plant–insect interactions: Effects of landscape, resource distribution, and other insects. Landscape Ecology. 39(9), 172.
Pocull Belles, Guillem, et al. “Multiscale Spatial Analysis of Two Plant–Insect Interactions: Effects of Landscape, Resource Distribution, and Other Insects.” Landscape Ecology, vol. 39, no. 9, 172, Springer Nature, 2024, doi:10.1007/s10980-024-01899-9.
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