Aggregation and synecology of arboreal arthropods associated with an overstorey rain forest tree in Australia

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Abstract
The cohesion of the arthropod community associated with the rain forest tree Argyrodendron actinophyllum was studied in a warm subtropical rain forest in Australia. The distribution of most arthropods was contagious on the foliage of A. actinophyllum. Chewers and phloem-feeders were more clumped than epiphyte grazers and parasitoids. Arthropod predator-prey ratios were high and relatively constant over time, as revealed by measures of their activity. However, similar ratios in abundance and species-richness of arthropods foraging on foliage showed high variability in space and no consistent trends. Species associations on the foliage were difficult to predict and did not constitute either a single, well-united community or well-delimited subcommunitics. Most of the data suggest that on the foliage of A. actinophyllum, the cohesion of the arthropod community is not extremely strong. Apart from methodological constraints, possible reasons for this include the influence of host-tree phenology, and the high arthropod-diversity of the rain forest environment.