Fungi and insect herbivores affect herb diversity depending on species traits of herbs and neighboring tree composition
Fungi and insect herbivores affect herb diversity depending on species traits of herbs and neighboring tree composition by Zhang Nannan , Chinese Academy of Sciences Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The mechanisms of biodiversity maintenance have been a hot topic in ecology for decades. Fungi and insect herbivores contribute to the diversity of plants in grasslands, which has been frequently reported. However, evidence about their driving roles on forest herb diversity is not enough. In a study published in Journal of Ecology , Wang Xugao and Dr. Jia Shihong from the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have conducted a field manipulation experiment in a temperate forest in northeastern China and examined the effects of fungi and insect herbivores on herb diversity by using fungicides and insecticides. The researchers found that fungicides decreased herb diversity by 5%, and that the negative effect was weaker in the studied plots where ther