Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Field manipulative experimentation is useful in discerning ecological community patterns and the mechanisms causing them.Such experiments often utilize artificially constructed structures to simulate variations in biological or environmental conditions.Leaf shelter building by Lepidopteran larvae is a type of ecosystem engineering that creates microhabitats utilized by many arthropods.We conducted an experiment to study the effect of forest edge on the distribution of leaf shelter building caterpillars by creating artificial leaf ties on red oak (Quercus rubra) trees using metal clips.We selected 20 trees at the Nature Conservancy's Pontotoc Ridge Preserve in Pontotoc County, OK, and constructed five artificial leaf ties on each tree by clipping two pieces of leaves together with a metal clip for each tie.The caterpillar and overall arthropod communities in these leaf ties were monitored over the summer of 2019.The majority (over 90%) of the artificial leaf ties were colonized by arthropods by late summer (August 2019).
Authors: Mostafa S. Elshahed, Tammy Austin, David Bass
Language: English
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3080878995