Plants are under constant threat from insect herbivores that can consume all types of plant tissue, both aboveground and belowground. Because plants connect aboveground and belowground environments, they are uniquely positioned to mediate indirect herbivore interactions between the two ecosystems. The effects of this mediation may change over time with cascading consequences both aboveground and belowground. We used a system involving the larval belowground (BG) herbivore Diabrotica speciosa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), corn, and the aphid aboveground (AG) herbivore Rhopalosiphum maidis to answer three questions: (1) What effects does belowground herbivory by D. speciosa have on feeding preferences and distributions of the aboveground R. maidis? (2) How do these preferences and distributions change over time? And (3) what are the longer term consequences for R. maidis populations? Adult alate aphids initially preferred corn seedlings with root feeding by D. speciosa, but preference declined over time driven by aphids leaving corn seedlings with root herbivory. Similarly, observations of aphid performance and colony growth indicated negative effects of root herbivory in contrast to previous studies. These results suggest that shifts in plant‐mediated aboveground–belowground interactions can have important consequences for long‐term distributions of aboveground herbivores.

中文翻译：

---

看不见的景象：地下觅食会影响地上食草动物的分布

植物一直受到昆虫食草动物的威胁，这些食草动物会消耗地上和地下的所有类型的植物组织。由于植物连接地上和地下环境，因此它们的位置独特，可以介导两个生态系统之间的间接草食动物相互作用。这种调解的效果可能会随着时间的流逝而发生变化，从而导致地上和地下的级联后果。我们使用了一个涉及地下食草动物（BG）食草动物Diabrotica speciosa（鞘翅目：Chrysomelidae），玉米和蚜虫地上食草动物Rhopalosiphum maidis的系统来回答三个问题：（1）D. speciosa地下食草动物有什么作用？麦地蝇的摄食偏好和分布？（2）这些偏好和分布随时间如何变化？（3）麦迪氏菌种群的长期后果是什么？成年的蚜虫蚜虫最初更喜欢用D. speciosa进行根饲的玉米幼苗，但随着时间的推移，蚜虫使玉米幼苗带有根食草，从而导致偏好下降。同样，与以前的研究相比，对蚜虫性能和菌落生长的观察表明，根除草具有负面作用。这些结果表明，植物介导的地上-地下相互作用的转变可能对地上食草动物的长期分布产生重要影响。