ecology of phasmids - KLUEDO - Universität Kaiserslautern
ecology of phasmids - KLUEDO - Universität Kaiserslautern
ecology of phasmids - KLUEDO - Universität Kaiserslautern
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Community structure & host range 21<br />
Observed resource niches only partly represented food niches, as potential food plant families from linetransect<br />
records (i.e. the realized niche) did not completely overlap with edible plant families from<br />
feeding trials (i.e. the absolute food niche; Figure 2-4). The overlap between the two niche types ranged<br />
from 0.50 to 1.00 (expressed as Sørensen index <strong>of</strong> similarity, Figure 2-4). None <strong>of</strong> the four focal<br />
phasmid species was specialized beyond the plant family level. However, Otocrania sp. exclusively fed<br />
on plant species <strong>of</strong> the Sapindaceae and M. diocles was clearly restricted to Araceae and Piperaceae<br />
(Table 2-3). Generally, plant families that were recorded as preferred resources along line-transects (see<br />
above) proved to be edible to the according phasmid species. But for the tested phasmid species the<br />
palatability <strong>of</strong> plants was not consistent in-between the taxonomic borders <strong>of</strong> plant families (i.e., not all<br />
confamilial plant species tested were edible, cf. Table 2-3).<br />
The focal phasmid species had distinct diets (Table 2-3). In contrast to the plant records from linetransects<br />
(see Table 2-2), the food niches resulting from feeding trials did not overlap (Table 2-3). Only<br />
B. ploiaria shared one host plant family each with O. martini and Otocrania sp.. Nonetheless, plant life<br />
form <strong>of</strong> palatable species corresponded with the preferred habitat <strong>of</strong> phasmid species. O. martini,<br />
B. ploiaria and Otocrania sp. fed exclusively on pioneer tree species and lianas. Whereas the diet <strong>of</strong><br />
M. diocles, the only phasmid species with considerable occurrence in the forest understory (cf. Table 2-<br />
1), contained herbs, shrubs and hemiepiphytes, which are characteristic elements <strong>of</strong> this habitat. None <strong>of</strong><br />
the four phasmid species fed neither on any <strong>of</strong> ten highly abundant tree species <strong>of</strong> BCI which<br />
represented eight plant families, nor did they feed on any <strong>of</strong> 13 randomly selected plant species out <strong>of</strong><br />
12 plant families (cf. Table 2-3).