Overlap of Lepidoptera species in frugivorous (this study) and leaf-chewer (different study, [68]) guilds.

<p>Overlap of Lepidoptera species in frugivorous (this study) and leaf-chewer (different study, [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0171843#pone.0171843.ref068" target="_blank">68</a>]) guilds.</p

Mean volume for whole fruit, mesocarp and seeds (a) and fleshiness (b) in plant species attacked and not attacked by Lepidoptera.

<p>The differences between attacked and non-attacked species are significant (whole fruit: U _106,151 = 5624, Z = 3.064, P = 0.002; mesocarp: U _106,151 = 5828, Z = 2.69, P = 0.007; seeds: U _106,151 = 5346, Z = 3.574, P < 0.0010), (b) Fleshiness (i.e. proportion of mesocarp in whole fruit) did not have significant effect on infestation (U _106,151 = 6839, Z = 0.83, P = 0.401).</p

The number of plant species attacked (black bar) and not attacked (white bar) by frugivorous Lepidoptera in samples categorized by (a) fruit weight and (b) the number of fruits.

<p>The number of plant species attacked (black bar) and not attacked (white bar) by frugivorous Lepidoptera in samples categorized by (a) fruit weight and (b) the number of fruits.</p

Relationship between seed and mesocarp volume for 268 plant species attacked and not attacked by Lepidoptera.

<p>Relationship between seed and mesocarp volume for 268 plant species attacked and not attacked by Lepidoptera.</p

Density of all frugivorous Lepidoptera, and both specialist and generalists, per fruit.

<p>Host species are ranked from highest to lowest density for 326 plant species with samples of >1 kg and >50 fruits. Note that all plants to the right of each curve exhibited zero density for the herbivore category in question that cannot be shown on the log scale d y axis.</p

Plant phylogeny from Varyingly hungry caterpillars: predictive models and foliar chemistry suggest how to eat a rainforest

The phylogeny of plant hosts sampled in this study for geometrids or pyraloids

Variation in oxidative activity with time and species from Varyingly hungry caterpillars: predictive models and foliar chemistry suggest how to eat a rainforest

A histogram of mean oxidative activity (mg/g) (± one s.e.) for all 88 species analysed

Flow chart for PBLM analysis from Varyingly hungry caterpillars: predictive models and foliar chemistry suggest how to eat a rainforest

A schematic diagram of our analytical steps for predicting network structure

Supplementary Material Figure Legends from Varyingly hungry caterpillars: predictive models and foliar chemistry suggest how to eat a rainforest

A long-term goal in evolutionary ecology is to explain the incredible diversity of insect herbivores and patterns of plant host use in speciose groups like tropical Lepidoptera. Here, we used standardized food-web data, multigene phylogenies of both trophic levels and plant chemistry data to model interactions between Lepidoptera larvae (caterpillars) from two lineages (Geometridae and Pyraloidea) and plants in a species-rich lowland rainforest in New Guinea. Model parameters were used to make and test blind predictions for two hectares of an exhaustively sampled forest. For pyraloids, we relied on phylogeny alone and predicted 54% of species-level interactions, translating to 79% of all trophic links for individual insects, by sampling insects from only 15% of local woody plant diversity. The phylogenetic distribution of host-plant associations in polyphagous geometrids was less conserved, reducing accuracy. In a truly quantitative food web, only 40% of pair-wise interactions were described correctly in geometrids. Polyphenol oxidative activity (but not protein precipitation capacity) was important for understanding the occurrence of geometrids (but not pyraloids) across their hosts. When both foliar chemistry and plant phylogeny were included, we predicted geometrid–plant occurrence with 89% concordance. Such models help to test macroevolutionary hypotheses at the community level

Le Courrier

01 septembre 18291829/09/01 (N244)