Carlos Garcia-Robledo, “Global change, cascades of co-extinctions and the colonization of novel environments by insect herbivores”

Monday, January 30, 2012

Carlos Garcia-Robledo
National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

“Global change, cascades of co-extinctions and the colonization of novel environments by insect herbivores”
 
Abstract: One component of global change threatening biodiversity is cascades of extinctions: the loss of species as a result of the extinction of species upon which they depended. A group of organisms that is highly susceptible to co-extinctions is insect herbivores because their life cycles are closely bound to their host plants. This study explores the effects of projected climate change on host plant extinctions and cascades of extinction of associated insect herbivores in the highest elevational gradient of continuous forest in Central America (The Barva Transect, Costa Rica). Insect herbivores may respond to new environmental conditions by expanding their diets to novel host plants such as exotic plant species. Combining molecular tools, demographic models and field and laboratory experiments, this study explores the plasticity and potential for adaptation of plants and insect herbivores in novel environments.

Host/Administrative Contact: Rodolfo Dirzo/Pam Hung (pamhung@stanford.edu)