Plant organ abscission and the green island effect caused by a coleopteran’s gall on Miconia cf cinnamomifolia (Melastomataceae): larval survival and mortality factors
Journal of Environmental Analysis and Progress
Plant organ abscission and the green island effect caused by a coleopteran’s gall on Miconia cf cinnamomifolia (Melastomataceae): larval survival and mortality factors
Autor Correspondente: J. C. Santos | [email protected]
Palavras-chave: Atlantic Forest, beetle, Coleoptera, gall-inducing insects, insect gall, insect-plant interactions, natural enemies.
Resumos Cadastrados
Resumo Inglês:
Galls are characterized by inducing cellular differentiation (hyperplasia or hypertrophy) resultant of the action of some organisms, mainly insects, on structures/organs of their host plants. The galls cause physiological changes in host plants, altering host traits, and their growth and survival. The early abscission of galled plant organs can be a form of plant defense. Therefore, the galls decayed more slowly than the healthy leaves, or the surrounding healthy leaf tissue in some abscised galled leaves, forming “green island gallsâ€. This study reported an instance where the host plant Miconia cf cinnamomifolia (Melastomataceae) abscises leaves galled by an unidentified coleopteran’s gall on the soil of a fragment of Atlantic Forests, Brazil. Once on the forest soil galls were exposed to a new set of potential natural enemies, as pathogens and predators. Consequently, larval survival decrease of 79% to 36% in four months and fungal infestation increase of 2% to 21%. Neither size nor the weight of the galls differed between categories of mortality factors and larval survival. It was discussed the adaptive nature of the “Green Island Effect†as a counter-response of gallers to leaf abscission, which is a known plant defense strategy.