Leaf-shelters facilitate the colonization of arthropods and enhance microbial diversity on plants

Shelter-building insects are important ecosystem engineers, playing
critical roles in structuring arthropod communities. Nonetheless, the
influence of leaf shelters and arthropods on plant-associated microbiota
remains largely unexplored. Arthropods that visit or inhabit plants can
contribute to the leaf microbial community, resulting in significant
changes in plant-microbe interactions. By artificially constructing leaf
shelters, we provide evidence that shelter-building insects influence not
only the arthropod community structure but also impact the phyllosphere
microbiota. Leaf shelters exhibited higher abundance and richness of
arthropods, changing the associated arthropod community composition. These
shelters also altered the composition and community structure of
phyllosphere microbiota, promoting greater richness and diversity of
bacteria at the phyllosphere. In leaf shelters, microbial diversity
positively correlated with the richness and diversity of herbivores. These
findings demonstrate the critical role of leaf shelters in structuring
both arthropod and microbial communities through altered microhabitats and
species interactions.