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Host insect specificity and interspecific competition drive parasitoid diversification in a plant–insect community

Ai‐Ying Wang; Yan‐Qiong Peng; James M. Cook; Da‐Rong Yang; Da‐Yong Zhang; Wan‐Jin Liao
Ecology · Vol. 104, Issue 7 · 2023

Abstract

Ecological interactions among plants, insect herbivores, and parasitoids are pervasive in nature and play important roles in community assembling, but the codiversification of tri‐trophic interactions has received less attention. Here we compare pairwise codiversification patterns between a set of 22 fig species, their herbivorous pollinating and galling wasps, and their parasitoids. The parasitoid phylogeny showed significant congruence and more cospeciation events with host insects phylogeny than with host plants. These results suggest that parasitoid phylogeny and speciation is more closely related to their host insects than to their host plants. The pollinating wasps hosted more parasitoid species than gallers and indicated a more intense interspecific competition among parasitoids associated with pollinators. Closer matching and fewer evolutionary host shifts were found between parasitoids and galler hosts than between parasitoids and pollinator hosts. These results suggest that interspecific competition among parasitoids, rather than resource availability of host wasps, is the main driver of the codiversification pattern in this community. Therefore, our study highlights the important role of interspecific competition among high trophic level insects in plant–insect tri‐trophic community assembling.

Bibliographic Information

JournalEcology
PublisherWiley
Publication Date2023-07-01
Publication Year2023
Volume104
Issue7
Document TypeJournal Article
Print ISSN0012-9658
eISSN1939-9170
DOI10.1002/ecy.4062
SubjectEcology & Organismal Biology

Access Information

NARA Access Coverage1997-01-01~Current
Journal Homepagehttps://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/loi/19399170
Publisher PageOpen Publisher Page
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