Natural enemies of plants have the potential to influence the dynamics of plant populations and the structure of plant communities. In diverse tropical forests, research on the effects of plant enemies has largely focused on the diversity‐enhancing effects of highly specialized enemies, while the community‐level effects of enemies with broader diets have rarely been considered. We investigated the community of insect seed predators interacting with seven tree species in the family Lauraceae on Barro Colorado Island (Panama). We present one of the first quantitative food webs for pre‐dispersal insect seed predators and their host plants, and use the information in the web to assess the potential for indirect interactions between the tree species. Our data suggest that there is high potential for indirect interactions between Lauraceae species via their shared seed predators. The strength and direction of these interactions are largely unrelated to the phylogenetic distance and trait similarity between species but are likely governed by the volume of fruit produced by each tree species.

中文翻译：

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通过共享昆虫种子捕食者评估热带树种之间间接相互作用的潜力

植物的天敌有可能影响植物种群的动态和植物群落的结构。在多样化的热带森林中，对植物天敌影响的研究主要集中在高度专业化的天敌的多样性增强效应上，而很少考虑具有更广泛饮食的天敌的群落水平影响。我们调查了与巴罗科罗拉多岛（巴拿马）樟科七种树种相互作用的昆虫种子捕食者群落。我们为传播前的昆虫种子捕食者及其寄主植物提供了第一个定量食物网，并使用网络中的信息来评估树种之间间接相互作用的潜力。我们的数据表明，樟科物种之间通过共同的种子捕食者进行间接相互作用的可能性很高。这些相互作用的强度和方向在很大程度上与物种之间的系统发育距离和性状相似性无关，但可能受每个树种产生的果实体积控制。