Leaf-Rollers as Ecosystem Engineers
Leaf-rolling caterpillars can act as ecosystem engineers because they provide shelter to secondary users. We reported the influence of leaf-rolling caterpillars on speciose tropical arthropod communities along both spatial (leaf-level and plant-level effects) and temporal scales (dry and rainy seasons). We predicted that rolled leaves can amplify arthropod diversity at both the leaf and plant levels, and that this effect is stronger in dry seasons, when arthropods are prone to desiccation. Shelter-building caterpillars are ubiquitous organisms in tropical and temperate forests, and can be considered key structuring elements for arthropod communities on plants, acting as diversity amplifiers at different temporal and spatial scales.
