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Research Article
Klaus Mehltreter
Instituto de Ecologia, A.C.
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8661-5652
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Ferns are the second largest lineage of vascular plants, yet our understanding of their interactions with phytophagous insects is very limited. Which insects feed on ferns? Do insects prefer specific fern taxa? Which feeding habit is the most common on ferns? Is there any evidence for coevolution between insects and ferns? Is our current knowledge on fern-insect interactions biased? To answer these questions, we analyzed 2,318 records of fern-insect interactions from 122 literature sources, based on the feeding habit of insects, fern taxa, and geographic location. We found evidence for interactions comprising 809 insect species (mainly Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, and Coleoptera) and 382 fern species (mainly Dennstaedtiaceae, Dryopteridaceae, and Pteridaceae). Leaf chewers contributed over 50% of the species, followed by sap-sucking insects (29.1%) and spore feeders (6.5%). The overall interaction analyses revealed that the entire fern-insect network had medium levels of nestedness (NODF = 43.37) and relatively low levels of specialization (H2’ = 0.24). The interaction networks of fern-feeding Coleoptera were the most specialized at family (H2’ = 0.40) and genus level (H2’ = 0.65), whereas 6 out of 10 most specialized insect families were Lepidoptera (d’ ≥ 0.44). At the genus level, all networks had a fern-biased asymmetry. Although fern-feeding generalists were common, few cases of coevolutionary radiation have been documented. We discuss the possible biases of our dataset, which also highlight gaps to perform future research, and suggest that many more phytophagous insects on ferns remain to be discovered, especially sap-sucking, gall-forming, and spore-feeding insects on modern fern groups.
Keywords
herbivory, host-plant selection, pteridophytes, spore feeders, network analysis
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CURRENT STATUS: Published
View the published article at Plant Ecology.
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Posted 19 Apr, 2021
No community comments so far
Editorial decision: Major revisions
On 29 Jun, 2021
Reviews received
Received 13 Apr, 2021
Reviewers invited
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Editor invited
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A new preprint design is coming!
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See the published version of this preprint at Plant Ecology.
This is a preprint, a preliminary version of a manuscript that has not completed peer review at a journal. Research Square does not conduct peer review prior to posting preprints. The posting of a preprint on this server should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its validity or suitability for dissemination as established information or for guiding clinical practice.
Learn more about In Review
Research Article
Klaus Mehltreter
Instituto de Ecologia, A.C.
Corresponding Author
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8661-5652
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
Peer Review Timeline
CURRENT STATUS: Published
View the published article at Plant Ecology.
Version 1
Posted 19 Apr, 2021
No community comments so far
Editorial decision: Major revisions
On 29 Jun, 2021
Reviews received
Received 13 Apr, 2021
Reviewers invited
Invitations sent on 11 Apr, 2021
Editor invited
On 14 Mar, 2021
Editor assigned
On 05 Mar, 2021
First submitted
On 04 Mar, 2021
Metrics
Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
View the published article at Plant Ecology.
Ferns are the second largest lineage of vascular plants, yet our understanding of their interactions with phytophagous insects is very limited. Which insects feed on ferns? Do insects prefer specific fern taxa? Which feeding habit is the most common on ferns? Is there any evidence for coevolution between insects and ferns? Is our current knowledge on fern-insect interactions biased? To answer these questions, we analyzed 2,318 records of fern-insect interactions from 122 literature sources, based on the feeding habit of insects, fern taxa, and geographic location. We found evidence for interactions comprising 809 insect species (mainly Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, and Coleoptera) and 382 fern species (mainly Dennstaedtiaceae, Dryopteridaceae, and Pteridaceae). Leaf chewers contributed over 50% of the species, followed by sap-sucking insects (29.1%) and spore feeders (6.5%). The overall interaction analyses revealed that the entire fern-insect network had medium levels of nestedness (NODF = 43.37) and relatively low levels of specialization (H2’ = 0.24). The interaction networks of fern-feeding Coleoptera were the most specialized at family (H2’ = 0.40) and genus level (H2’ = 0.65), whereas 6 out of 10 most specialized insect families were Lepidoptera (d’ ≥ 0.44). At the genus level, all networks had a fern-biased asymmetry. Although fern-feeding generalists were common, few cases of coevolutionary radiation have been documented. We discuss the possible biases of our dataset, which also highlight gaps to perform future research, and suggest that many more phytophagous insects on ferns remain to be discovered, especially sap-sucking, gall-forming, and spore-feeding insects on modern fern groups.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
This is a list of supplementary files associated with this preprint. Click to download.
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