10.5061/DRYAD.60J84
Johnson, Scott N.
Western Sydney University
Lopaticki, Goran
Western Sydney University
Barnett, Kirk
Western Sydney University
Facey, Sarah L.
Western Sydney University
Powell, Jeff R.
Western Sydney University
Hartley, Susan E.
University of York
Data from: An insect ecosystem engineer alleviates drought stress in
plants without increasing plant susceptibility to an above-ground
herbivore
Dryad
dataset
2016
2016-05-30T14:40:22Z
2016-05-30T14:40:22Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12582
27297 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Climate change models predict more extreme rainfall patterns, ranging from
droughts to deluges, which will inevitably affect primary productivity in
many terrestrial ecosystems. Insects within the ecosystem, living above-
and below-ground, may modify plant responses to water stress. For example,
some functional groups improve soil conditions via resource provision,
potentially alleviating water stress. Enhanced resource provision may,
however, render plants more susceptible to herbivores and negate
beneficial effects. Using a model system, we tested how plants (Brassica
oleracea) responded to drought, ambient and increased precipitation
scenarios when interacting with both a soil conditioning ecosystem
engineer (dung beetles; Bubas bison) and an above-ground herbivore, the
major crop pest diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella). Dung beetles
enhanced soil water retention by 10% and promoted growth in plants
subjected to drought by 280%, relieving the impacts of water stress on
plants. Under drought conditions, plants grown with dung beetles had c.
30% more leaves and were over twice as tall as those without dung beetles.
Dung beetles produced a 2ยท7-fold increase in nitrogen content and more
than a threefold increase in carbon content of the shoots, though shoot
concentrations of nitrogen and carbon were unchanged. Carbon
concentrations in roots, however, were increased by dung beetles under
both ambient and increased precipitation regimes. Increased precipitation
reduced root and shoot nitrogen concentrations by 16% and 30%, relative to
plants under ambient regimes, respectively, most likely due to dilution
effects of increased plant growth under increased precipitation. Soil
carbon and nitrogen concentrations were largely unaffected. While dung
beetles enhanced plant growth and nitrogen content in plants experiencing
drought, the anticipated increase in plant suitability to herbivores did
not arise, possibly because shoot nitrogen concentrations and C:N ratio
were unaffected. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an insect
ecosystem engineer alleviating the effects of predicted drought events on
plants via physical manipulation of the soil matrix. Moreover, their
effects did not change plant suitability to an above-ground herbivore,
pointing to potential beneficial role for insect ecosystem engineers in
climate change adaptation and crop protection.
Raw data from experimentSwain_data_online.xlsx