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Resilience of plant-insect interactions in an oak lineage through Quaternary climate change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

Tao Su
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China. E-mail: zhouzk@xtbg.ac.cn State Key Laboratory of Paleobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Jonathan M. Adams
Affiliation:
College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Gwanak-Gu, Seoul 151, Republic of Korea. E-mail: jonadams@snu.ac.kr
Torsten Wappler
Affiliation:
Steinmann Institute for Geology, Mineralogy and Palaeontology, Division Palaeontology, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, D-53115 Bonn, Germany
Yong-Jiang Huang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China
Frédéric M. B. Jacques
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China. E-mail: zhouzk@xtbg.ac.cn
Yu-Sheng (Christopher) Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences and Don Sundquist Center of Excellence in Paleontology, Box 70703, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee 37614-1710, U.S.A.
Zhe-Kun Zhou
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China. E-mail: zhouzk@xtbg.ac.cn Key Laboratory for Plant Diversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China

Abstract

Plant-insect interactions are vital for structuring terrestrial ecosystems. It is still unclear how climate change in geological time might have shaped plant-insect interactions leading to modern ecosystems. We investigated the effect of Quaternary climate change on plant-insect interactions by observing insect herbivory on leaves of an evergreen sclerophyllous oak lineage (Quercus section Heterobalanus, HET) from a late Pliocene flora and eight living forests in southwestern China. Among the modern HET populations investigated, the damage diversity tends to be higher in warmer and wetter climates. Even though the climate of the fossil flora was warmer and wetter than modern sample sites, the damage diversity is lower in the fossil flora than in modern HET populations. Eleven out of 18 damage types in modern HET populations are observed in the fossil flora. All damage types in the fossil flora, except for one distinctive gall type, are found in modern HET populations. These results indicate that Quaternary climate change did not cause extensive extinction of insect herbivores in HET forests. The accumulation of a more diverse herbivore fauna over time supports the view of plant species as evolutionary “islands” for colonization and turnover of insect species.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 The Paleontological Society. All rights reserved. 

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References

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