Data from: Plant, herbivore and parasitoid community composition in native Nothofagaceae forests vs. exotic pine plantations

1.Converting natural areas into land used for production causes dramatic
changes in the configuration of landscapes. Both the loss and
fragmentation of native habitats contribute to biodiversity loss worldwide
and the consequent creation of artificial edges can have a significant
influence on community assembly. The conservation value of plantation
forests has been identified for specific species, but it is not clear
whether exotic pine plantations can also be used for the preservation of
native communities in general. 2.We studied whether community composition
of different trophic levels (plants, herbivorous caterpillars,
parasitoids) changed across native Nothofagaceae forests to exotic pine
plantations, and whether habitat edges affected communities differently
depending on the forest type considered. To accomplish this, we sampled
plants, herbivorous caterpillars and parasitoids in native Nothofagaceae
and exotic pine plantation forests and compared community composition of
each trophic level across habitats. 3.We found that community composition
of plants, herbivorous caterpillars and parasitoids differed significantly
between native and exotic plantation forests, and that variation in the
composition of the upper trophic levels was strongly dependent on
variation in the composition of the lower trophic level. Moreover,
differences in community composition were mostly the result of species
turnover, suggesting that plantations are complementary habitats for some
species, but cannot be a substitute habitat for all native forest species.
Furthermore, edge effects had a strong impact on the composition of native
communities, such that certain species were only present in the interior
of the native habitat. 4.Synthesis and applications. Large areas of native
vegetation, where the interior remains intact, are essential to preserve
species that are susceptible to edge effects and that cannot occupy other
habitat types. Creating straight instead of winding edges could decrease
the impact that plantations have on native forests. Furthermore,
increasing the representativeness of native plant communities in exotic
plantation forests would cascade up to higher consumer trophic levels,
considerably increasing the conservation value of these commercial stands.