LINKING APHID ECOLOGY WITH NUTRIENT FLUXES IN A CONIFEROUS FOREST
Abstract
Flows of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in throughfall and soil solutions in forest ecosystems vary spatially and temporally. However, the reasons for the variability of DOC flows are unknown. Phytophagous insects such as aphids have not been considered a potential source of organic carbon, even though aphids feeding on trees excrete copious amounts of honeydew. We followed the key processes determining the origin, flow, and path of honeydew from the phyllosphere of a Norway spruce stand to the soil. We analyzed the chemical composition of needle leachates, throughfall, and soil solution to calculate fluxes of DOC and hexose‐C in an aphid‐infested and an uninfested Norway spruce stand.
At the individual aphid level, the amount of honeydew produced was dependent on temperature, developmental stage, and the nutritional status of spruce. At the population level, colony growth and natural enemies influenced the amount of honeydew available in the phyllosphere. The growth rates of microorganisms on spruce needles were significantly increased when honeydew was available.
This study of the fate of honeydew and associated metabolites within a forest stand shows that the concentrations of DOC and hexose‐C in throughfall were reduced on the way to the soil and that there were no differences in the soil solutions from infested and uninfested stands. However, the distribution and abundance of honeydew‐producing Homoptera had a marked effect on the spatial and temporal variability in the DOC concentrations in throughfall. High DOC concentrations in throughfall during summer are not exclusively due to the leaching of nutrients from leaves, but may also be attributed to the excreta of aphids.
Our results highlight the importance of studying physiological and life history processes in addition to taking the traditional biomass approach to ecosystem studies. We discuss our results with regard to the types of information that are preserved, transformed, or lost when crossing the conceptual border between one scale of observation and another. We emphasize the importance of identifying key processes at different spatiotemporal scales by linking the biology of individuals and populations with flows of energy and matter within an ecosystem, while stressing the need to identify ecosystem changes at different scales of observation.
Number of times cited: 55
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