Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 23 March 2007:
Vol. 315. no. 5819, p. 1666
DOI: 10.1126/science.1137249
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Technical Comments

Comment on "Why Are There So Many Species of Herbivorous Insects in Tropical Rainforests?"

David A. Norton1 and Raphael K. Didham2*

Novotny et al. (Reports, 25 August 2006, p. 1115) argued that higher herbivore diversity in tropical forests results from greater phylogenetic diversity of host plants, not from higher host specificity. However, if host specificity is related to host abundance, differences in relative host abundance between tropical and temperate regions may limit any general conclusion that herbivore diversity scales directly with host-plant diversity.

1 School of Forestry, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand.
2 School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: raphael.didham{at}canterbury.ac.nz

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Hidden Neotropical Diversity: Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts.
M. A. Condon, S. J. Scheffer, M. L. Lewis, and S. M. Swensen (2008)
Science 320, 928-931
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)