Record Details
Arthropod community organization and development in pear
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Arthropod community organization and development in pear |
| Names |
Gut, Larry J.
(creator) Westigard, Peter H. (advisor) Liss, William J. (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 1985-01-31 (iso8601) |
| Note | Graduation date: 1985 |
| Abstract | Arthropod communities in pear are conceptualized as hierarchically organized systems in which several levels of organization or subsystems can be recognized between the species population level and the community as a whole. An individual tree is taken to be the community habitat with arthropod subcommunities developing on leaf, fruit and wood subcommunity habitats. Over a hundred species are reported to colonize one or more subcommunity habitats. Each subcommunity is composed of trophically organized systems of populations. Each system of populations is comprised of a guild of arthropods that use the habitat primarily for feeding but also for overwintering or egg deposition, and associated guilds of specialized predators, parasitoids and hyperparasitoids. Understanding community organization entails understanding how subsystems and their environments interact so as to be incorporated into a unified whole. Along with the relatively specialized interrelationships so important in organizing systems of populations, higher level community subsystems are coupled through the activities of phytophagous and predaceous generalists which feed in or take their prey from more than one subcommunity. In meeting the habitat requirements of each of its life history stages, several members of the pear community move from one subcommunity to another during the course of community development and serve to integrate these subsystems. Additional habitat, trophic and life history aspects of subsystem incorporation and interpenetration are discussed. Community development or change in organization through time is conceptualized as being jointly determined by the development of the habitat and the organization of the species pool. Seasonal development of the pear arthropod community is described in terms of changes in the species composition, size, and spatial distribution of guilds and subcommunities. Community habitat development is taken to be the primary determinant of changes in community structure and organization. As the season progresses, changes in the kinds and biomass of developmental states of each subcommunity habitat are accompanied by changes in the kinds, number or biomass, and distribution of associated community subsystems. Although the influence of habitat development on community development is emphasized, it is from the the species pool that arthropods colonize pear. The species that colonize, and their abundance and time of arrival is partially determined by the organization of this system of communities. |
| Genre | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Topic | Arthropod populations |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/40696 |
