<p>As the number and severity of plant invasions continue to grow globally, it is important to understand how interactions between invasive plant species and native arthropod communities change over time. To this end, we conducted a two-year, field-based natural experiment wherein we characterized the arthropod herbivore and predator communities on porcelain berry, an invasive vine first introduced to North America in the 1870s. We compared the alpha diversity and composition of these communities, as well as the relative abundance of herbivore feeding guilds (leaf chewers, fluid feeders, and internal feeders), to those found on two co-occurring native confamilial species. We found that roughly 150&#xa0;years post-introduction, porcelain berry supports a diverse community of largely native arthropods, including both herbivores (specialists and generalists) and predators. Herbivore communities on porcelain berry approached levels of alpha diversity recorded for both native species. However, these communities were compositionally dissimilar to and had lower abundances than those on the native species. Additionally, porcelain berry had a higher proportion of fluid feeders and a lower proportion of internal feeders than the native hosts. Moving up a trophic level, the predator communities on porcelain berry were as diverse, rich, and even as those on the native species and had similar community compositions. Nonetheless, porcelain berry remains a highly invasive species with an expanding range, indicating that hosting a diverse arthropod community, and the resulting herbivory which that entails, has had little impact on its invasion success.</p>

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Assessing the integration of an invasive plant into native arthropod trophic webs

  • Brady J. Thexton,
  • John T. Lill,
  • Martha R. Weiss

摘要

As the number and severity of plant invasions continue to grow globally, it is important to understand how interactions between invasive plant species and native arthropod communities change over time. To this end, we conducted a two-year, field-based natural experiment wherein we characterized the arthropod herbivore and predator communities on porcelain berry, an invasive vine first introduced to North America in the 1870s. We compared the alpha diversity and composition of these communities, as well as the relative abundance of herbivore feeding guilds (leaf chewers, fluid feeders, and internal feeders), to those found on two co-occurring native confamilial species. We found that roughly 150 years post-introduction, porcelain berry supports a diverse community of largely native arthropods, including both herbivores (specialists and generalists) and predators. Herbivore communities on porcelain berry approached levels of alpha diversity recorded for both native species. However, these communities were compositionally dissimilar to and had lower abundances than those on the native species. Additionally, porcelain berry had a higher proportion of fluid feeders and a lower proportion of internal feeders than the native hosts. Moving up a trophic level, the predator communities on porcelain berry were as diverse, rich, and even as those on the native species and had similar community compositions. Nonetheless, porcelain berry remains a highly invasive species with an expanding range, indicating that hosting a diverse arthropod community, and the resulting herbivory which that entails, has had little impact on its invasion success.