Rj. Fensham, PHYTOPHAGOUS INSECT WOODY SPROUT INTERACTIONS IN TROPICAL EUCALYPT FOREST .2. INSECT COMMUNITY STRUCTURE, Australian journal of ecology, 19(2), 1994, pp. 189-196
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.