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Fertilization and plant litter effects on the plant and epigeal arthropod communities

Patrick, L Brian
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1259588844

Abstract Details

2009, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Biological Sciences.
In the portion of the food web more reliant on living, standing crop plant material—the “green” portion of the food web, decreased plant species richness may result in increased abundance of insect pest species and lower insect species richness. Nutrient loading not only increases plant standing crop biomass, but also plant litter production, which can increase the basal food resource for the detrital community, resulting in increased detritivore and epigeal predator abundances. Furthermore, plant litter increases habitat complexity, which can also increase arthropod abundance and diversity. These important factors affect both biodiversity and trophic interactions, and this experiment has measured these effects in one of the largest spatial-scale studies of its kind. The plant community largely responded as predicted by biodiversity-productivity theory, but some notable aspects of the plant community did not. The loss of forb species due to fertilization was consistent with the abundance-based mechanism of diversity loss due to fertilization. However, it is striking that fertilization significantly affected only forb species richness, not forb species biomass, contradicting biodiversity-productivity theory. Also contradicting conventional theory, grass species richness showed no response to fertilization, but grass species biomass was strongly affected by fertilization. Epigeal arthropod community responses to fertilization were mixed. When looking at beetles and spiders separately, taxa that are typically used as indicators, fertilization increased abundance and biomass as predicted by biodiversity-productivity theory, but species richness was not affected as predicted. Beetle species richness actually increased in fertilized plots, as did the species richness of linyphiid spiders. Moreover, the detritivorous prey of the beetles and spiders did not increase in biomass or abundance as would be expected by biodiversity-productivity theory. Further contradicting theory, the detritivorous prey also increased species richness. These surprising results are likely due to a bottom-up enrichment (via fertilization and a resulting increased in nutrient-enriched plant litter) in the food web that supported a greater diversity of predators, in turn resulting in no significant changes in prey (detritivore) biomass and abundance because of a top-down effect of the predators. This dissertation expands our understanding of anthropogenic influences on habitats by exploring portions of the community often ignored or underappreciated by previous studies. Moreover, this dissertation work helps to expand biodiversity-productivity theory to include established communities at a large scale. Trophic interaction theory is commonly tested on the living food web; here I show that top-down control may be an important component within the detritivore food chain.
Mark W. Kershner, Ph.D. (Advisor)
James L. Blank, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Alison J. Smith, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Lauchlan H. Fraser, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Randall J. Mitchell, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
287 p.
Biology; Ecology
biodiversity; nitrogen; fertilization; plant litter; trophic dynamics; epigeal community

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Citations

  • Patrick, L. B. (2009). Fertilization and plant litter effects on the plant and epigeal arthropod communities [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1259588844

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Patrick, L. Fertilization and plant litter effects on the plant and epigeal arthropod communities. 2009. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1259588844.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Patrick, L. "Fertilization and plant litter effects on the plant and epigeal arthropod communities." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1259588844

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2009, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.