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Which insect species numerically respond to allochthonous inputs?

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Abstract

Herons (Ardeidae) frequently breed in inland forests and provide organic material in the form of carcasses of prey (that they drop) and chicks (that die) to the forest floor. Such allochthonous inputs of organic materials are known to increase arthropod populations in forests. However, the exact species that show numerical responses to allochthonous inputs in heron breeding colonies remains unclear. Very few studies have clarified which factors determine numerical responses in individual species. We used pitfall and baited traps to compare the densities of arthropods between forest patches in heron breeding colonies (five sites) and areas outside of colonies (five sites) in central Japan. The density of all arthropods was not significantly different between colonies and non-colony areas. However, significant differences between colonies and non-colony areas were found in four arthropod groups. Earwigs (Dermaptera: Anisolabididae), hister beetles (Coleoptera: Histeridae), and carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae) were more abundant in colonies, while ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) were less abundant in colonies. We detected numerical responses to heron breeding in two earwig, one histerid, five silphid, and one ant species. Chick and prey carcasses from herons may have directly led to increases in consumer populations such as earwigs, histerids, and silphids in colonies, while microenvironmental changes caused by heron breeding may have reduced ant abundance. In the Silphidae, five species showed numerical responses to allochthonous inputs, and the other two species did not. Numerical responses in individual species may have been determined by life history traits such as reproductive behaviour.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Mashiko, Y. Toquenaga and T. Amano for providing valuable information about the study sites and herons. We also thank M. Hasegawa and Y. Yamaura for advice on our analyses. We thank four anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on our manuscript. This research was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (no. 25292034). The experiments complied with the laws of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University, Rokkodai, Nada, Kobe, 657-8501, Japan

    Shinji Sugiura

  2. Faculty of Agricultural and Life Science, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, 036-8561, Japan

    Hiroshi Ikeda

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  1. Shinji Sugiura
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  2. Hiroshi Ikeda
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Correspondence to Shinji Sugiura.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Sugiura, S., Ikeda, H. Which insect species numerically respond to allochthonous inputs?. Naturwissenschaften 100, 749–759 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-013-1071-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-013-1071-0

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