PHYTOPHAGOUS INSECT WOODY SPROUT INTERACTIONS IN TROPICAL EUCALYPT FOREST .2. INSECT COMMUNITY STRUCTURE

Sucking insects constituted 79% of all phytophagous insects collected from woody sprouts in the ground layer of a tropical eucalypt forest. Mobile insect groups such as nonpsyllid Hemiptera and Orthoptera were relatively frequent in this environment compared to temperate, Eucalyp tus-dominated vegetation. The high fire frequency of the tropical euca lypt forest may favour mobile insect groups. The capture of sucking in sects and caterpillars peaked in dry season samples. Other patterns of abundance of phytophagous insect groups showed little consistency in their seasonal trends between host species or between vegetation types within host species. Disparities between chewing insect abundance in daytime samples and the damage chewing insects cause, may result from disproportionate consumption by large, mainly nocturnal insects, such as members of the Orthoptera. In this study, 21% of insect species wer e specialists on single plant species. This study suggested that insec t abundance reflected the growth patterns of woody sprouts after regul ar burning, rather than that plant growth and development were tuned t o the pressures of insect herbivory.