A survey on defoliation and phytophagous insects in four habitat types in Sabah, Malaysia

P. Eggleton; V. K. Chey; P. M. Hammond; A. Y. C. Chung; M. R. Speight

A survey on defoliation and phytophagous insects in four habitat types in Sabah, Malaysia

2002

P. Eggleton | V. K. Chey | P. M. Hammond | A. Y. C. Chung | M. R. Speight

The degree of defoliation in four different habitat types (primary forest, logged forest, acacia plantation and oil palm plantation) was investigated.Logged forest was most severely defoliated in terms of absolute leaf area eaten,percentage of leaf area eaten and number of holes. This was attributed to the many fastgrowingand short-lived tree species in the logged forest which were more palatable tothe phytophagous insects. Phytophagous Coleoptera were more speciose and abundantin the forests compared with the plantations. Oil palm plantation recorded fewerOrthoptera compared with other sites. There were significant positive relationshipsbetween the abundance of Coleoptera and Orthoptera with the percentage of leaf areaeaten. A significant positive relationship was also observed between the Coleopteraabundance and the number of holes on leaves. In this study, Coleoptera were the bestpredictor of defoliation compared with lepidopteran larvae and Orthoptera.

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