Resumen

COSTA, Fernanda Vieira da; FAGUNDES, Marcílio  y  NIEVES, Frederico de Siqueira. Plant architecture and gall diversity associated with Copaifera langsdorffii (Fabaceae). Ecol. austral [online]. 2010, vol.20, n.1, pp.9-17. ISSN 1667-782X.

Plant architecture and gall diversity associated with Copaifera langsdorffii (Fabaceae). Galling insects induce tumors on their host plants in response to climatic adversities and as a protection against natural enemies. Among several hypotheses that explain differences in the distribution and abundance of galling-inducing insects, the plant architecture hypothesis stresses the influence of host plant architecture (e.g., a combination of life form, plant height, and number of shoots, branches and leaves in relation to crown volume). The aims of this study was to evaluate the effects of host plant architecture on gall species diversity and to determine the sample effort to perform a representative collect of the galling insects fauna. On fifty C. langsdorffii trees, we determined both architectural variables (i.e. height, DBH, number of ramifications of the first, second and third level, and crown area and plant volume) and gall richness and abundance. We found a total of 23 gall morphotypes associated with host plant C. langsdorffii. The gall richness and abundance were not affected by host plant architecture. Rarefaction curves indicated that ten individuals and 14 shoots per plant are sufficient to sample all gall morphotypes associated with C. langsdorffii. The study suggest a new methodology to sampling galls in this tropical tree species.

Palabras clave : Architectural complexity; Gall inducing insects; Tropical tree; Sampling effort; Super-host.

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