Species richness enhances serially ecosystem services: a test with dipterans, natural enemies, and insect pests

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14600
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Miyashita Tadashi 東京大学, 大学院農学生命科学研究科(農学部), 教授 (50182019)
• Research Collaborator: TSUTSUI Masaru 東京大学, 大学院農学生命科学研究科, 特任研究員
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 生態系機能 / 種多様性 / 害虫駆除 / 環境保全型農業

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined that the relationship between species richness and ecosystem services, which is achieved from interactions among multiple trophic levels. The target system consists of three trophic levels including web spiders (natural enemies), pest insects (leafhoppers, bugs), and dipterans (alternative prey for predators), and the hypothesis addressed is that dipteran diversity sustains natural enemies, and thereby strengthens pest control service. The results showed that seasonal turnover of dipteran species enhances dipteran abundance and its stability through time. It was also suggested that dipteran abundance increased spider abundance, which then decreased abundance of bugs.

Free Research Field

生態学