Effect of soil biota on aboveground plant-insect interactions

Abstract

de la Peña, E. (2009). Effect of soil biota on aboveground plant-insect interactions. Ecosistemas 18(2):64-78.

The aboveground and belowground components of ecosystems have until relatively recently been considered in isolation. In spite of the incredible diversity of belowground organisms and the functional role played by soil biota in ecosystem- and community-level processes, most of the current body of ecological theory is based on what aboveground ecologists have described. Nevertheless, there is increasing awareness of the influence of these components on each other and of the key role played by aboveground-belowground feedbacks in controlling ecosystem processes and properties. In the last decade different studies have illustrated how belowground interactions between plant roots, root herbivores and plant mutualists have a direct impact in higher tropic levels occurring aboveground such as insect herbivores, parasitoids and pollinators. We here briefly review the state of the art in this field of ecology and discuss future research lines that may be of interest for both, below- and aboveground ecologists.