How to translate text using browser tools
30 September 2016 Floral Visitors of Three Asteraceae Species in a Xeric Environment in Central Mexico
Dulce María Figueroa-Castro, Guadalupe González-Tochihuitl, Sombra Patricia Rivas-Arancibia, Gabriela Castaño-Meneses
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

We describe the spatial variation in the structure and composition of the communities of insects visiting the inflorescences of Flaveria ramosissima Klatt, Florestina pedata (Cav.) Cass., and Parthenium bipinnatifidum (Ort.) Rollins (Asteraceae) in a xeric environment in Central Mexico. Inflorescences of the three Asteraceae were visited by a total of 96 species of Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, and Hemiptera. Total species richness of floral visitors to the three Asteraceae and total abundance of insects of Fl. pedata and P. bipinnatifidum did not differ between low and high vegetation cover sites. Total abundance of insects visiting the inflorescences of F. ramosissima and abundance of Hymenoptera in all three Asteraceae were higher at the low vegetation coverage (LVC) site than at the high vegetation coverage (HVC) one. Diversity of insects of Fl. pedata and P. bipinnatifidum was higher at the HVC site. However, in F. ramosissima diversity was higher at the LVC site. The communities of insects of each Asteraceae were dissimilar between sites. These differences can be attributed to variation in the abundance of Lepidophora (Diptera: Bombyliidae), Miridae (Hemiptera), Melyridae (Coleoptera), Tiphiidae (Hymenoptera), Myrmecocystus mexicanus Wesmael, and Dorymyrmex grandulus (Forel) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The first three insect groups were sensitive to LVC, high temperature, and low humidity, whereas the last three tolerated those same environmental conditions. Changes in temperature, humidity, and resources associated with vegetation coverage seem to differentially affect each species of floral visitors of the three Asteraceae species studied.

© The Authors 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
Dulce María Figueroa-Castro, Guadalupe González-Tochihuitl, Sombra Patricia Rivas-Arancibia, and Gabriela Castaño-Meneses "Floral Visitors of Three Asteraceae Species in a Xeric Environment in Central Mexico," Environmental Entomology 45(6), 1404-1414, (30 September 2016). https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvw132
Received: 15 March 2016; Accepted: 30 August 2016; Published: 30 September 2016
JOURNAL ARTICLE
11 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

KEYWORDS
abundance
diversity index
similarity index
spatial variation
species richness
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top