Lindroth Richard L, Zierden Mark R, Morrow Clay J, Fernandez Patricia C
Department of Entomology University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison Wisconsin USA.
Present address: Department of Chemistry Lake Superior State University Sault Sainte Marie Michigan USA.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Aug 19;14(8):e70046. doi: 10.1002/ece3.70046. eCollection 2024 Aug.
Earth is now experiencing declines in insect abundance and diversity unparalleled in human history. The drivers underlying those declines are many, complex, and incompletely known. Here, using a natural experiment, we report the first test of the hypothesis that forest defoliation by an invasive outbreak insect compromises the fitness of a native insect via damage-induced increases in toxicity of the forest canopy. We demonstrate that defoliation by the invasive spongy moth () elicits an average 8.4-fold increase in foliar defense expression among aspen () genotypes. In turn, elevated defense dramatically reduces survivorship, feeding, and growth of a charismatic mega moth (). This work suggests that changes to the phytochemical landscape of forests, mediated by invasive outbreak insects, are likely to negatively impact native insects, with potential repercussions for community diversity and ecosystem function across expansive scales.
地球目前正经历着昆虫数量和多样性的下降，这在人类历史上是前所未有的。导致这些下降的驱动因素众多、复杂且尚未完全明确。在此，我们通过一项自然实验，首次对以下假设进行了检验：一种爆发性入侵昆虫对森林的落叶破坏会通过损害诱导森林冠层毒性增加，从而损害一种本地昆虫的适应性。我们证明，入侵的舞毒蛾对森林的落叶破坏会使白杨基因型之间的叶片防御表达平均增加8.4倍。反过来，增强的防御能力显著降低了一种具有超凡魅力的大型蛾类的存活率、取食率和生长率。这项研究表明，由爆发性入侵昆虫介导的森林植物化学景观变化可能会对本地昆虫产生负面影响，并可能在广泛范围内对群落多样性和生态系统功能产生潜在影响。
