Environmental factors play a role in shaping ecological networks, yet their impact on the phylogenetic aspects of host-parasitoid interactions remains largely unclear. In particular, our understanding is limited regarding how biotic factors—such as plant species richness, the phylogenetic and functional composition of consumer communities—and abiotic factors like microclimate influence the structure of host-parasitoid networks and the dynamics of their communities.
To investigate these questions, Chao-Dong Zhu’s Lab at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, utilized a five-year dataset on trap-nesting bees, wasps, and their parasitoids, gathered from the highly controlled BEF-China tree biodiversity experiment. They examined how tree species richness, phylogenetic and functional diversity, as well as species and phylogenetic composition, influence the species and phylogenetic diversity of both host and parasitoid communities, along with the structure of their interaction networks.
They show that multiple components of tree diversity and canopy cover impacted both, species and phylogenetic composition of hosts and parasitoids. Generally, phylogenetic associations between hosts and parasitoids reflected non-randomly structured interactions between phylogenetic trees of hosts and parasitoids. Further, host-parasitoid network structure was influenced by tree species richness, tree phylogenetic diversity, and canopy cover. Their study indicates that the composition of higher trophic levels and corresponding interaction networks are determined by plant diversity and canopy cover especially via trophic links in species-rich ecosystems.
Figure 1. Associations among tree, host, and parasitoid species and phylogenetic composition.
Figure 2. Dendrogram of phylogenetic congruence for the host species (below) and associated parasitoid species (above) recorded in the study.
Figure 3. Bivariate relationships between tree species richness and network indices.
Figure 4. Bivariate relationships between tree MPD, canopy cover and network indices.
Literature:
Ming-Qiang Wang#, Shi-Kun Guo#, Peng-Fei Guo#, Juan-Juan Yang, Guo-Ai Chen, Douglas Chesters, Michael C Orr, Ze-Qing Niu, Michael Staab, Jing-Ting Chen, Yi Li, Qing-Song Zhou, Felix Fornoff, Xiaoyu Shi, Shan Li, Massimo Martini, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Andreas Schuldt, Xiaojuan Liu, Keping Ma, Helge Bruelheide, Arong Luo*, Chao-Dong Zhu*. 2025. Multidimensionality of tree communities structure host-parasitoid networks and their phylogenetic composition. eLife. 13:RP100202. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.100202.3.
