SUPERSEDED - Structure and composition of tritrophic communities associated with Fagaceae-feeding cynipid gallwasps in Sichuan, China

## This item has been replaced by the one which can be found at https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/7756 ## A key question in the assembly of biological communities is the extent to which trophic links between higher trophic levels are structured by 'bottom-up' effects. Here we explore bottom-up host plant effects on the structure of communities of Fagaceae host plants, cynipid gall wasps and parasitoid natural enemies in western Sichuan, China. We use quantified interaction data to test the hypotheses that, relative to parasitoid-tree associations, links between cynipids and Fagaceae are (1) more specialised, resulting in (2) more modular networks and (3) stronger signatures of turnover than nestedness for plant-associated beta diversity. Because no Linnaean classification exists for this study system we developed a working taxonomy based on gall morphotypes and parasitoid morphospecies, supported by DNA barcoding of gall inducers. Rearing of nearly 43,000 cynipid gall specimens from 23 host plant species in Castanea, Castanopsis, Lithocarpus and four sections in the genus Quercus (Cerris, Cyclobalanopsis, Ilex and Quercus) yielded 176 morphologically distinct cynipid gall morphotypes. We reared over 4500 specimens of 64 parasitoid morphospecies in the families Braconidae, Cynipencyrtidae, Eulophidae, Eupelmidae, Eurytomidae, Megastigmidae, Ormyridae, Pteromalidae and Torymidae. Our predictions were confirmed. We highlight the challenges facing research on biodiverse communities with a substantial taxonomic impediment, and discuss our findings in light of the processes thought to structure tritrophic interactions centred on endophytic insect herbivores. We summarise compositional and structural parallels of our study communities with Fagaceae-associated cynipid communities elsewhere and avenues for future research.