Solis-Gabriel Lizet, Mendoza-Arroyo Wendy, Boege Karina, Del-Val Ek
Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico.
Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico.
PeerJ. 2017 May 24;5:e3344. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3344. eCollection 2017.
Tropical dry forests (TDFs) have been widely transformed by human activities worldwide and the ecosystem services they provide are diminishing. There has been an urgent call for conservation and restoration of the degraded lands previously occupied by TDFs. Restoration experiences aim to recover species diversity and ecological functions. Different restoration strategies have been used to maximize plant performance including weeding, planting or using artificial mulching. In this investigation, we evaluated whether different restoration practices influence animal arrival and the reestablishment of biotic interactions. We particularly evaluated lepidopteran larvae diversity and caterpillar predation on plants established under different restoration treatments (mulching, weeding and control) in the Pacific West Coast of México. This study corroborated the importance of plant host identity for lepidopteran presence in a particular area. Lepidopteran diversity and herbivory rates were not affected by the restoration treatment but they were related to tree species. In contrast, caterpillar predation marks were affected by restoration treatment, with a greater number of predation marks in control plots, while caterpillar predation marks among plant species were not significantly different. This study highlights the importance of considering the introduction of high plant species diversity when planning TDF restoration to maximize lepidopteran diversity and ecosystem functioning.
热带干旱森林（TDFs）在全球范围内已被人类活动广泛改变，其提供的生态系统服务正在减少。人们迫切呼吁对先前被热带干旱森林占据的退化土地进行保护和恢复。恢复工作旨在恢复物种多样性和生态功能。人们采用了不同的恢复策略来最大化植物的生长表现，包括除草、种植或使用人工覆盖物。在这项研究中，我们评估了不同的恢复措施是否会影响动物的到来以及生物相互作用的重新建立。我们特别评估了墨西哥西海岸不同恢复处理（覆盖、除草和对照）下所种植植物上鳞翅目幼虫的多样性以及毛虫被捕食的情况。这项研究证实了植物寄主身份对于特定区域内鳞翅目昆虫存在的重要性。鳞翅目昆虫的多样性和食草率不受恢复处理的影响，但它们与树种有关。相比之下，毛虫的捕食痕迹受到恢复处理的影响，对照地块中的捕食痕迹数量更多，而不同植物物种间的毛虫捕食痕迹没有显著差异。这项研究强调了在规划热带干旱森林恢复时考虑引入高植物物种多样性以最大化鳞翅目昆虫多样性和生态系统功能的重要性。
