10.5061/DRYAD.HG549
Forister, Matthew L.
aDepartment of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Biology and
Novotny, Vojtech
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Panorska, Anna K.
University of Nevada Reno
Baje, Leontine
New Guinea Binatang Research Center
Basset, Yves
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Butterill, Philip T.
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Cizek, Lukas
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Coley, Phyllis D.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Dem, Francesca
New Guinea Binatang Research Center
Diniz, Ivone R.
University of Brasília
Drozd, Pavel
University of Ostrava
Fox, Mark
Tulane University
Glassmire, Andrea E.
aDepartment of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Biology and
Hazen, Rebecca
Tulane University
Hrcek, Jan
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Jahner, Joshua P.
aDepartment of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Biology and
Kaman, Ondrej
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Kozubowski, Tomasz J.
University of Nevada Reno
Kursar, Thomas
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Lewis, Owen T.
University of Oxford
Lill, John
George Washington University
Marquis, Robert J.
University of Missouri–St. Louis
Miller, Scott E.
Smithsonian Institution
Morais, Helena C.
University of Brasília
Murakami, Masashi
Chiba University
Nickel, Herbert
University of Göttingen
Pardikes, Nick A.
aDepartment of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Biology and
Ricklefs, Robert E.
University of Missouri–St. Louis
Singer, Michael S.
Wesleyan University
Smilanich, Angela M.
aDepartment of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Biology and
Stireman, John O.
Wright State University
Villamarín-Cortez, Santiago
Museo Ecuatoriano de Ciencias Naturales
Vodka, Stepan
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Volf, Martin
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
Wagner, David L.
University of Connecticut
Walla, Thomas
Museo Ecuatoriano de Ciencias Naturales
Weiblen, George D.
University of Minnesota
Dyer, Lee A.
aDepartment of Biology, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
Biology and
Data from: The global distribution of diet breadth in insect herbivores
Dryad
dataset
2015
Pareto distribution
niche width
latitudinal gradient
current
2015-12-17T00:00:00Z
2015-12-17T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1423042112
66048 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Understanding variation in resource specialization is important for
progress on issues that include coevolution, community assembly, ecosystem
processes, and the latitudinal gradient of species richness. Herbivorous
insects are useful models for studying resource specialization, and the
interaction between plants and herbivorous insects is one of the most
common and consequential ecological associations on the planet. However,
uncertainty persists regarding fundamental features of herbivore diet
breadth, including its relationship to latitude and plant species
richness. Here we use a global dataset to investigate host range for over
7,500 insect herbivore species covering a wide taxonomic breadth and
interacting with more than 2,000 species of plants in 165 families. We ask
whether relatively specialized and generalized herbivores represent a
dichotomy, rather than a continuum from few to many host families and
species attacked, and whether diet breadth changes with increasing plant
species richness towards the tropics. Across geographic regions and
taxonomic subsets of the data, we find that the distribution of diet
breadth is fit well by a discrete, truncated Pareto power law
characterized by the predominance of specialized herbivores and a long,
thin tail of more generalized species. Both the taxonomic and phylogenetic
distributions of diet breadth shift globally with latitude, consistent
with a higher frequency of specialized insects in tropical regions. We
also find that more diverse lineages of plants support assemblages of
relatively more specialized herbivores, and that the global distribution
of plant diversity contributes to, but does not fully explain, the
latitudinal gradient in insect herbivore specialization.
dietBreadthArchivedDiet breadth data: each row indicates the number of
herbivores ("Count") with a given diet breadth at a given site.
Further details (such as species or family-level diet breadth) under the
"Data" column.
Global