Appendix A. A description of Euphorbiaceae phylogeny.

A description of Euphorbiaceae phylogeny

NovotnyEtAl2011DryadData

This is the plant x herbivore data matrix for 38 woody plant species from a lowland rainforest in Papua New Guinea and their folivorous insect herbivores. The herbivores were sampled from 1,500 m2 of foliage area for each plant species. The matrix includes the number of individuals of each herbivore species on each plant species, except for singleton records (i.e., combinations of a particular herbivore species feeding on a particular plant species supported by only a single individual) which were excluded. All records in the matrix are feeding records, verified either by rearing of larvae or no-choice feeding experiments for adults. Each herbivore species is denoted by a species code, identified as far as possible, and assigned to its feeding guild. The number of individuals (ni.) and the number of host plant species (pi) are reported for each species. These are original data obtained by research in the field. This data set is associated with the paper Insects on Plants: Explaining the Paradox of Low Diversity within Specialist Herbivore Guilds by V. Novotny, S. E. Miller, J. Hrcek, L. Baje, Y. Basset, O. T. Lewis, A. J. A. Stewart and G. D. Weiblen published in the American Naturalist. This paper includes the definition of each herbivore guild, phylogeny of the plant species, and the information on the depositories of the plant and insect vouchers documenting the data

Data and Code for Hungry Caterpillars

An archive folder containing the 54 files needed to reproduce the results and figures reported in 'Varyingly Hungry Caterpillars: Predictive Models and Foliar Chemistry Suggest How to Eat a Rainforest'. The folder includes both raw data and files for analysis and one README file. Each file is described in the README file and is presented in the same order as in the R file containing the script necessary for the analyses

The Butterflies of Barro Colorado Island, Panama: Local Extinction since the 1930s

<div><p>Few data are available about the regional or local extinction of tropical butterfly species. When confirmed, local extinction was often due to the loss of host-plant species. We used published lists and recent monitoring programs to evaluate changes in butterfly composition on Barro Colorado Island (BCI, Panama) between an old (1923–1943) and a recent (1993–2013) period. Although 601 butterfly species have been recorded from BCI during the 1923–2013 period, we estimate that 390 species are currently breeding on the island, including 34 cryptic species, currently only known by their DNA Barcode Index Number. Twenty-three butterfly species that were considered abundant during the old period could not be collected during the recent period, despite a much higher sampling effort in recent times. We consider these species locally extinct from BCI and they conservatively represent 6% of the estimated local pool of resident species. Extinct species represent distant phylogenetic branches and several families. The butterfly traits most likely to influence the probability of extinction were host growth form, wing size and host specificity, independently of the phylogenetic relationships among butterfly species. On BCI, most likely candidates for extinction were small hesperiids feeding on herbs (35% of extinct species). However, contrary to our working hypothesis, extinction of these species on BCI cannot be attributed to loss of host plants. In most cases these host plants remain extant, but they probably subsist at lower or more fragmented densities. Coupled with low dispersal power, this reduced availability of host plants has probably caused the local extinction of some butterfly species. Many more bird than butterfly species have been lost from BCI recently, confirming that small preserves may be far more effective at conserving invertebrates than vertebrates and, therefore, should not necessarily be neglected from a conservation viewpoint.</p></div

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

Datasets used to compile a list of butterfly species collected or observed on BCI, 1923–2013.

<p>(*) Lycaenidae only. All records coded with year 1974, being the mid-point of 1962–1986, this period corresponding to the stay of G. Small in Panama.</p><p>(**) All records coded with year 2000, being the “mid-point” of 1996–2005.</p><p>The number of records (individuals) are indicated for the old and recent periods, as well as for the entire period of study.</p

Details of the % distribution of species richness within the 9 categories of abundance status

<p>(<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0136623#pone.0136623.t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a>) ordered by (a) faunal composition by families; (b) indices of host specificity; (c) host growth form; (d) indices of geographic distribution; (e) wing color pattern; and (f) wing size. For definition of (b), (d) and (e) indices, see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0136623#pone.0136623.s011" target="_blank">S1 Text</a>.</p

Table_1_Species swarms and their caterpillar colonisers: phylogeny and polyphenols determine host plant specificity in New Guinean Lepidoptera.docx

The majority of multi-cellular terrestrial life is found in tropical forests and is either an invertebrate or a plant: for decades ecologists have sought to understand why. As global change erodes the list of extant species on our planet quantifying what species remain, along with their origins and ecology, contributes to our ability to preserve ecosystem functioning and resilience. Here we study three feeding guilds of caterpillars (Lepidoptera) and seek to understand the drivers of their diet breadth across four diverse tropical plant genera in Papua New Guinea. Host specificity is central to biodiversity estimates and the resilience of ecological networks. Specifically, we calculate distance-based host specificity in relation to plant phylogenetic relationships alongside chemical and mechanical traits of leaves. In terms of chemical defenses, we focus on the major polyphenol groups, a compound class shared across many plant species. We refine our data exploration using food webs and ordinations to pick out specific traits of relevance to insect host specificity. Our results showed that the degree of specialization for caterpillars took the following order: phylogenetic>polyphenol>mechanical, such that insect specificity was explained best by host phylogeny and polyphenol chemistry in our study system. Leaf mining insects had higher host specificity than those feeding externally. Of the traits studied hexahydroxydiphenoyl derivatives, galloyl derivatives, trichome density, quinic acid derivatives, myricetins and successional index explained the most variation in overall insect community structure. Our findings build on earlier studies of New Guinean rainforest communities and add a mechanistic explanation to previous findings that host genera are functional islands for insect herbivores. Further, we demonstrate that different plant genera combine different defensive traits that appear to drive associated insect diversity. Our approach integrates trait data and phylogeny to explore dimensions of specialization and we welcome metabolomic studies that will provide more detailed explanations for insect-herbivore host use. Finally, chemical diversity is directly linked to organismal diversity and by studying a range of insect herbivore guilds we make a connection between feeding ecology and specialization that will help to predict species interactions and, potentially, the persistence of ecological networks.</p

Table_2_Species swarms and their caterpillar colonisers: phylogeny and polyphenols determine host plant specificity in New Guinean Lepidoptera.xlsx

The majority of multi-cellular terrestrial life is found in tropical forests and is either an invertebrate or a plant: for decades ecologists have sought to understand why. As global change erodes the list of extant species on our planet quantifying what species remain, along with their origins and ecology, contributes to our ability to preserve ecosystem functioning and resilience. Here we study three feeding guilds of caterpillars (Lepidoptera) and seek to understand the drivers of their diet breadth across four diverse tropical plant genera in Papua New Guinea. Host specificity is central to biodiversity estimates and the resilience of ecological networks. Specifically, we calculate distance-based host specificity in relation to plant phylogenetic relationships alongside chemical and mechanical traits of leaves. In terms of chemical defenses, we focus on the major polyphenol groups, a compound class shared across many plant species. We refine our data exploration using food webs and ordinations to pick out specific traits of relevance to insect host specificity. Our results showed that the degree of specialization for caterpillars took the following order: phylogenetic>polyphenol>mechanical, such that insect specificity was explained best by host phylogeny and polyphenol chemistry in our study system. Leaf mining insects had higher host specificity than those feeding externally. Of the traits studied hexahydroxydiphenoyl derivatives, galloyl derivatives, trichome density, quinic acid derivatives, myricetins and successional index explained the most variation in overall insect community structure. Our findings build on earlier studies of New Guinean rainforest communities and add a mechanistic explanation to previous findings that host genera are functional islands for insect herbivores. Further, we demonstrate that different plant genera combine different defensive traits that appear to drive associated insect diversity. Our approach integrates trait data and phylogeny to explore dimensions of specialization and we welcome metabolomic studies that will provide more detailed explanations for insect-herbivore host use. Finally, chemical diversity is directly linked to organismal diversity and by studying a range of insect herbivore guilds we make a connection between feeding ecology and specialization that will help to predict species interactions and, potentially, the persistence of ecological networks.</p

The Butterflies of Barro Colorado Island, Panama: Local Extinction since the 1930s - Fig 1

<p>(a) Cumulative the number of individuals collected/observed plotted against the mean cumulative number of species collected/observed, for the recent period (1993–2013). Inset: cumulative no. of CTFS transects performed in the shady understory of BCI (2008–2013) plotted against the mean cumulative number of species collected/observed. Broken lines are 95% C.L. (b) Cumulative no. of individuals sequenced plotted against the cumulative no. of cryptic species discovered, for years 2008–2012. The grey line represents the best fit model, with its equation in inset.</p