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This study examined factors influencing parasitism rates in fruit-eating insect larvae across small forest patches in agricultural landscapes of upstate New York. Researchers found that individual host plant characteristics, particularly fruit crop size, were the strongest predictors of parasitism rates, outweighing broader neighborhood and landscape-level factors. Non-native invasive species, especially Glossy Buckthorn, experienced the highest parasitism rates, suggesting invasive plants may significantly alter host-parasite dynamics in fragmented forest systems.
Why it matters
The findings have practical implications for managing agricultural and fragmented forest landscapes, indicating that controlling invasive plant species and understanding host-specific traits may be more effective for influencing insect parasite populations than landscape-scale interventions. This could inform conservation strategies and integrated pest management approaches in similar human-dominated ecosystems.
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⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
Frugivorous insect larvae are dependent on fruiting plants for development, leading to complex host-parasite interactions that may be influenced by many factors at various scales. We compared the relative effects of factors at the individual, neighborhood, and landscape scales in forest patches. Our results suggest that in areas like upstate New York, where agricultural land uses are dominant, individual scale factors are the most influential. Specifically, parasitism increased with host fruit crop size, but was not associated with host species richness or proximity to forest edge. Notably, the most parasitized hosts were non-native species, including Frangula alnus Mill. (Glossy Buckthorn), indicating a potential role of invasive species to shape host-parasite interactions in our system. Our results underscore the importance of host-specific traits in structuring parasitism patterns and suggest management could consider both the ecological context of host traits and the influence of invasive species at multiple scales.