Comments on plant-herbivore-parasitoid interactions in two cerrado areas of Southern Brazil

Abstract

This work describes some interactions between lepidopteran larvae and braconid parasitoids on a group of plants at two sites. There was no significant difference in parasitoid diversity between the sites (Shannon index, p<0.05), and similarity was 62.5%, estimated through Sorensen's index. The diversity of hosts was also not different (p<0.05), but the similarity of host diversity was only 28.5%. This suggests that the parasitoids have strategies for maintaining similar reproduction rates, population densities and communities in areas with different potential hosts.