Structure and dynamics of a taxocoenosis of Pteromalidae (Hym., Chalcidoidea) in the Median Sector of the Sierra of Guadarrama.

[EN] A taxocoenosis of pteromalid chalcid flies (Hym., Pteromalidae) collected with a Malaise trap in the Median Sector of the Sierra of Guadarrama (Spain) is studied. An amount of 404 specimens representing 100 species were collected. 12 genera and 40 species are new record for the Iberian Peninsula. The structure and dynamics of the community is analyzed. It shows high indices of diversity and evennes and low index of dominance. The frequency distribution fits the log-series model. The higher values of abundance, richness and diversity are reached in the summertime. Guild composition of the community is also analyzed. Main percentage is represented by the group of parasitoids of gall-forming, leaf-mining and leaf-folding phytophages.[ES] Se estudia una taxocenosis de calddidos pteromálidos (Hym., Pteromalidae) capturados mediante una trampa «Malaise» instalada a lo largo de 1988 en la Estación Biogeológica de «El Ventorrillo», situada en el sector medio de la Sierra de Guadarrama (España). Se colectaron 100 especies repartidas en un total de 404 ejemplares. 12 géneros y 40 especies resultaron ser nuevas para la Península Ibérica. Se analiza la estructura y dinámica temporal de la comunidad. Se concluye que ésta muestra altos índices de diversidad y uniformidad y bajo de dominancia. La distribución de frecuencias de las especies se ajusta a la serie logarítmica. Los valores más altos de abundancia, riqueza y diversidad se alcanzan en el período estival. Se analiza, por último, la estructura «gremial» de la comunidad. El porcentaje más alto está representado por el grupo de especies parasitoides de insectos gallícolas, minadores y enrolladores de hojas.Peer reviewe

Understanding agroforestry practices in Europe through landscape features policy promotion

Agroforestry understood as the combination of a woody component (forest tree, shrub, fruit tree) with an agricultural use of the understory is not clearly identified as such by the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Despite the protection and promotion of the woody component in different parts of the CAP political text, the identification of agroforestry is not clear, although it can be recognised in the description of some landscape features, such as isolated trees and different types of hedgerows. Moreover, it is important to identify the extent of such woody components promoted by the CAP in agricultural lands to validate the impact of current and future measures. This paper aims at the characterisation of the current extent of landscape features all over Europe by analysing the Rural Development Program (RDP) measures within the CAP 2007–2013 and 2014–2020 that promote said features in Europe to increase the ecosystem service delivery. Isolated trees and hedgerows are protected unsatisfactorily through the Cross-compliance and Greening of CAP Pillar I. In contrast, Agri-environment measures associated to Pillar II are used in most European countries to protect both isolated trees and hedgerows and to promote them as boundary elements. The promotion of hedgerows and isolated trees mainly related to silvoarable and silvopastoral agroforestry practices is aimed at the promotion of the ecosystem services (such as water protection and biodiversity) and improvement in resilience (such as adaptation to climate change) they provide; therefore, the agroforestry environment benefits are indeed recognised. Landscape features comprising woody perennials should be associated with agroforestry when present in arable and permanent grasslands

Pteromálidos de la Comunidad de Madrid: faunística y catálogo (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea, Pteromalidae)

Faunistic results are given, compiled from several works of contribution to the knowledge of the Pteromalidae (Hym., Chalcidoidea), carried out during more than ten years in the autonomous community of Madrid (CAM) (Spain). 350 level-species taxa found in the CAM, corresponding to 9166 individuals examined, are listed. The authors collected 97% of materials examined as a result of three sampling programs. Sweet net sampling of 59 selected sites of the CAM; intensive Malaise trapping of two natural areas in El Monte de El Pardo and Sierra de Guadarrama and sampling of the parasitoid pteromalid community associated to cynipid galls (Hym., Cynipidae). A catalogue of species of the CAM is presented. Contrasting with the 13 species in 12 genera previously recorded, 268 species in 92 genera and 11 subfamilies are catalogued. 30 genera and 155 species represent a new record the first published record for the Iberian Peninsula. The íbero-balear catalogue of the Pteromalidae is updated from 169 to 324 species. For each species listed a short comments are presented on its known geographic distribution, existing records from the IB and CAM and biological data. Finally, an appendix is presented including full record data of the materials studied.Se presenta la compilación de los resultados faunísticos de distintos trabajos de contribución al conocimiento de la familia Pteromalidae (Hym., Chalcidoidea) desarrollados por los autores, a lo largo de más de diez años, en la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. Se listan los 350 taxa de nivel específico encontrados en la CAM correspondientes a 9166 ejemplares de pteromálidos estudiados, un 97% de los cuales representan materiales colectados por los autores en distintos programas de muestreo. Se efectuaron tres programas principales de muestreo: con red de barrido entomólogico en 59 localidades de la CAM representativas de distintas comunidades vegetales; programa intensivo de muestreo con trampas Malaise en dos localidades de el Monte de El Pardo y sierra de Guadarrama y muestreo para el estudio de la comunidad parasitoide de pteromálidos asociada a agallas de cinípidos (Hym., Cynipidae). Se elabora el catálogo de las especies de la comunidad de Madrid. Frente a las 13 especies en 12 géneros previamente citadas, se catalogan 268 especies, incluidas en 92 géneros de 11 subfamilias. Un total de 30 géneros y 155 especies representan la primera cita para la fauna de la Península Ibérica, actualizándose el catálogo íbero-balear de los Pteromalidae a 324 especies frente a las 169 que incluía hasta ahora. Para cada especie del catálogo se presentan unos breves comentarios sobre su distribución conocida, citas en la CM y en la P.I. y datos de su biología, bien propios o recabados de la bibliografía. Se presenta un apéndice final con la recopilación exhaustiva de los datos de cada registro del material estudiado

Phylogenetic and non-phylogenetic structure in trophic links between gall-forming herbivores and their parasitoid natural enemies.

Revealing processes that structure species interactions is central to understanding community assembly and dynamics. Species interact via their phenotypes, but identifying and quantifying the traits that structure species-specific interactions (links) can be challenging. Where these traits show phylogenetic signal, however, link properties are predictable using models that incorporate phylogenies in place of trait data. We analysed variation in link richness, frequency, and identity in a multi-site dataset of interactions between host oak cynipid galls and parasitoid natural enemies, using a Bayesian mixed modelling framework allowing concurrent fitting of terms for phylogenies of both trophic levels. In both link incidence (presence/absence) and link frequency datasets, we identified strong signatures of cophylogeny (related parasitoids attack related host galls) and patterns independent of either phylogeny. Our results are robust to simulations of substantially reduced sample completeness, and are consistent with the structuring of trophic interactions by a combination of phylogenetically conserved and convergently evolving traits at both trophic levels. We discuss our results in light of phenotypic traits thought to structure gall-parasitoid interactions and wider applications of this approach, including inference of underlying community assembly processes and prediction of economically important trophic interactions

Community impacts of anthropogenic disturbance: natural enemies exploit multiple routes in pursuit of invading herbivore hosts.

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.BACKGROUND: Biological invasions provide a window on the process of community assembly. In particular, tracking natural enemy recruitment to invading hosts can reveal the relative roles of co-evolution (including local adaptation) and ecological sorting. We use molecular data to examine colonisation of northern Europe by the parasitoid Megastigmus stigmatizans following invasions of its herbivorous oak gallwasp hosts from the Balkans. Local host adaptation predicts that invading gallwasp populations will have been tracked primarily by sympatric Balkan populations of M. stigmatizans (Host Pursuit Hypothesis). Alternatively, ecological sorting allows parasitoid recruitment from geographically distinct populations with no recent experience of the invading hosts (Host Shift Hypothesis). Finally, we test for long-term persistence of parasitoids introduced via human trade of their hosts' galls (Introduction Hypothesis). RESULTS: Polymorphism diagnostic of different southern refugial regions was present in both mitochondrial and nuclear microsatellite markers, allowing us to identify the origins of northern European invaded range M. stigmatizans populations. As with their hosts, some invaded range populations showed genetic variation diagnostic of Balkan sources, supporting the Host Pursuit Hypothesis. In contrast, other invading populations had an Iberian origin, unlike their hosts in northern Europe, supporting the Host Shift Hypothesis. Finally, both British and Italian M. stigmatizans populations show signatures compatible with the Introduction Hypothesis from eastern Mediterranean sources. CONCLUSIONS: These data reveal the continental scale of multi-trophic impacts of anthropogenic disturbance and highlight the fact that herbivores and their natural enemies may face very different constraints on range expansion. The ability of natural enemies to exploit ecologically-similar hosts with which they have had no historical association supports a major role for ecological sorting processes in the recent assembly of these communities. The multitude of origins of invading natural enemy populations in this study emphasises the diversity of mechanisms requiring consideration when predicting consequences of other biological invasions or biological control introductions.Funding was provided by NERC grant NE/B504406/1 to GNS and KS and NE/E014453/1 to GNS and JAN

Phylogenetic and non-phylogenetic structure in trophic links between gall-forming herbivores and their parasitoid natural enemies.

Revealing processes that structure species interactions is central to understanding community assembly and dynamics. Species interact via their phenotypes, but identifying and quantifying the traits that structure species-specific interactions (links) can be challenging. Where these traits show phylogenetic signal, however, link properties are predictable using models that incorporate phylogenies in place of trait data. We analysed variation in link richness, frequency, and identity in a multi-site dataset of interactions between host oak cynipid galls and parasitoid natural enemies, using a Bayesian mixed modelling framework allowing concurrent fitting of terms for phylogenies of both trophic levels. In both link incidence (presence/absence) and link frequency datasets, we identified strong signatures of cophylogeny (related parasitoids attack related host galls) and patterns independent of either phylogeny. Our results are robust to simulations of substantially reduced sample completeness, and are consistent with the structuring of trophic interactions by a combination of phylogenetically conserved and convergently evolving traits at both trophic levels. We discuss our results in light of phenotypic traits thought to structure gall-parasitoid interactions and wider applications of this approach, including inference of underlying community assembly processes and prediction of economically important trophic interactions

Agroforestry in the European common agricultural policy

Agroforestry is a sustainable land management system that should be more strongly promoted in Europe to ensure adequate ecosystem service provision in the old continent (Decision 529/2013) through the common agricultural policy (CAP). The promotion of the woody component in Europe can be appreciated in different sections of the CAP linked to Pillar I (direct payments and Greening) and Pillar II (rural development programs). However, agroforestry is not recognised as such in the CAP, with the exception of the Measure 8.2 of Pillar II. The lack of recognition of agroforestry practices within the different sections of the CAP reduces the impact of CAP activities by overlooking the optimum combinations that would maximise the productivity of land where agroforestry could be promoted, considering both the spatial and temporal scales

Evolution of host-plant associations and biogeographic patterns on a global scale within the oak gall wasps

Co-evolutionary interactions between insect herbivores and their host plants underlie much contemporary biodiversity and are vital to assembly of natural ecosystems. Assemblages of galls on oaks induced by Cynipini wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) occur across much of the Northern Hemisphere, their diversity peaking in the Nearctic and on white oaks (Quercus section Quercus). However, the evolutionary history of the clade has been debated with respect to geographic origins, direction and timings of dispersal events, and shifts in host plant associations. We examined these questions using a global-scale, 6-gene phylogeny of 430 Cynipini species and a dataset of their associated host plants encompassing all eight sections within Quercus plus five Fagaceae genera. Likelihood-based ancestral state reconstructions demonstrate a Nearctic origin of the Cynipini followed by repeated colonisations of the Palearctic via both westwards and eastwards dispersal. These inferences are robust to bias in taxon sampling across continents and the inclusion of Protobalandricus as the sister lineage to Cynipini sensu stricto. Likewise, the association with white oaks is probably ancestral and has been retained by many Cynipini lineages. However, host shifts to other sections within Quercus and related Fagaceae genera are widely distributed across the cynipid phylogeny. They are associated with both global-scale range shifts and within-bioregion exploitation of alternative hosts, and their frequency typically correlates with host-plant relatedness. These findings highlight the evolutionary success of cynipids on white oak hosts and the connectedness of continental assemblages of gall wasps over evolutionary time

A New Species of Saphonecrus (Hymenoptera, Cynipoidea) Associated With Plant Galls on Castanopsis (Fagaceae) in China

A new cynipid species, Saphonecrus hupingshanensis Liu, Yang, et Zhu, sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Synergini), is described from China. This is the first species of the inquilinous tribe Synergini ever known to have an association with chinquapins (Fagaceae: Castanopsis). The biology and implication to species diversity of Cynipidae in eastern and southeast Asia are discussed