Study

Life history traits predict insect species responses to large herbivore overabundance: A multitaxonomic approach

  • Published source details Iida T., Soga M., Hiura T. & Koike S. (2016) Life history traits predict insect species responses to large herbivore overabundance: A multitaxonomic approach. Journal of Insect Conservation, 20, 295-304.

Actions

This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

Action Category

Remove, control or exclude vertebrate herbivores

Action Link
Butterfly and Moth Conservation
  1. Remove, control or exclude vertebrate herbivores

    A site comparison study in 2014 in a deciduous forest in Hokkaido, Japan (Iida et al. 2016) found that forest where deer were excluded with fencing had a similar abundance of all moths to forest with deer present, but had fewer tree-feeding moths. In an exclosure with no deer, the abundance of moths (320 individuals) was similar to the surrounding forest with deer present (322 individuals), but higher than in an enclosure with high deer density (280 individuals). The abundance of herb- and shrub-feeding species in the exclosure (19 individuals) was also similar to the surrounding forest (20 individuals), but higher than in the enclosure (17 individuals), whereas the abundance of tree-feeding species was lower in the exclosure (51 individuals) than in the surrounding forest (57 individuals) or enclosure (62 individuals). From 2004, sika deer Cervus nippon were excluded from a 1.5-ha fenced exclosure (0 deer/km2), and deer density was maintained at 20 deer/km2 within a 16.4-ha fenced enclosure. The remaining forest contained approximately 10 deer/km2. In June, July and September 2014, moths were sampled once/month using three light traps/site. Traps contained a 4 W fluorescent light and a 4 W UV light. Half of the moth species were classified as either herb- and shrub-feeding species, or tree-feeding species.

    (Summarised by: Andrew Bladon)

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