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1. Diversity and function of arthropod endosymbiont toxins

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2021.06.008  

   Massey, Jonathan H.; Newton, Irene L.G. (July 2021, Trends in Microbiology)

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2. Arthropod rain in a lowland tropical forest

   https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.70046  

   Seiler, Andrew_R; Stark, Alyssa_Y; Yanoviak, Stephen_P (December 2025, Insect Conservation and Diversity)

   Abstract In lowland tropical forests, “arthropod rain” (i.e., arthropods falling from the canopy to the understory), represents a potentially important terrestrial nutrient flux.We investigated the composition, abundance, biomass and environmental drivers of arthropod rain on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Pairs of traps (pan traps and pole traps) placed 1 m above the ground, respectively, collected fallen arthropods and arthropods potentially climbing to the canopy.Average (±SE) arthropod biomass in pan traps was dominated by Hymenoptera (primarily ants; 0.501 ± 0.023 mg dry mass m⁻² day⁻¹) and Lepidoptera larvae (0.228 ± 0.001 mg m⁻² day⁻¹). Total dry biomass in pan traps was 0.891 ± 0.033 mg m⁻² day⁻¹; thus, ca. 27 kg of arthropod biomass rains into the understory per km²per month during the wet season in this forest. This equates to ca. 3 million mid‐sized ants falling from the canopy per day on BCI as a whole.Arthropod abundance in pan traps, especially ants and spiders, increased marginally with the increasing number of high‐wind events. By contrast, arthropod biomass showed no relationship with wind or rain.Arthropod abundance was higher in pole traps than in pan traps and was dominated by Collembola and Acari. Compositional overlap between pan and pole trap contents suggests that some fallen arboreal arthropods regularly return to the canopy.These findings illustrate an understudied pathway linking canopy and understory food webs within tropical forests, and the complex interactions between environmental conditions and arthropod rain. 

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3. Shrub shading moderates the effects of weather on arthropod activity in arctic tundra: Shrub cover affects arctic arthropod activity

   https://doi.org/10.1111/een.12644  

   Asmus, Ashley L.; Chmura, Helen E.; Høye, Toke T.; Krause, Jesse S.; Sweet, Shannan K.; Perez, Jonathan H.; Boelman, Natalie T.; Wingfield, John C.; Gough, Laura (October 2018, Ecological Entomology)
4. Biodiversity enhances the multitrophic control of arthropod herbivory

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb6603  

   Barnes, A. D.; Scherber, C.; Brose, U.; Borer, E. T.; Ebeling, A.; Gauzens, B.; Giling, D. P.; Hines, J.; Isbell, F.; Ristok, C.; et al (November 2020, Science Advances)

   null (Ed.)

   Arthropod herbivores cause substantial economic costs that drive an increasing need to develop environmentally sustainable approaches to herbivore control. Increasing plant diversity is expected to limit herbivory by altering plant-herbivore and predator-herbivore interactions, but the simultaneous influence of these interactions on herbivore impacts remains unexplored. We compiled 487 arthropod food webs in two long-running grassland biodiversity experiments in Europe and North America to investigate whether and how increasing plant diversity can reduce the impacts of herbivores on plants. We show that plants lose just under half as much energy to arthropod herbivores when in high-diversity mixtures versus monocultures and reveal that plant diversity decreases effects of herbivores on plants by simultaneously benefiting predators and reducing average herbivore food quality. These findings demonstrate that conserving plant diversity is crucial for maintaining interactions in food webs that provide natural control of herbivore pests. 

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5. New arthropod-Podostemaceae associations in Central and South America

   https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1129.91398  

   Bethin, Jacob; Krell, Rayda K.; Philbrick, C. Thomas (November 2022, ZooKeys)

   Podostemaceae are a unique family of aquatic angiosperms found in river rapids and waterfalls throughout southern Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Podostemaceae are understudied, and consequently, the arthropods associated with these plants are not well known. We sought to expand knowledge of arthropod-Podostemaceae associations to better understand the impact of these plants on aquatic ecosystems and biodiversity. We examined samples of Podostemaceae collected between 1998 and 2007 from Brazil, Costa Rica, Suriname, and Venezuela for arthropods even though these samples were not collected with the intent to investigate arthropod-Podostemaceae associations. We examined 15 samples of Podostemaceae, including 10 species never evaluated for arthropod associations, and found over 9000 arthropods representing 12 different orders. The most abundant orders were Diptera (77.88%), Trichoptera (12.90%), Coleoptera (3.35%), and Lepidoptera (2.42%). We found several arthropods not previously reported from Podostemaceae, including Collembola and Acari, documented several instances of insects boring into plant tissues, and provide the first report of an insect-induced gall on Ceratolacis pedunculatum C.T. Philbrick, Novelo & Irgang. 

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