Asymptote of Phytophagous Species Accumulation in Tea : The Relevance of Guilds

摘要

Phytophagous insects assemble asymmetrically on tea reaching higher level with greater exposure of the plant. The sap feeders asymptote earlier than leaf eaters with the defoliators needing greater plant exposure than the other two guilds. Species from the guilds are differentially recruited by tea. Phytophagous species richness is generally measured from the asymptote after a saturation level is reached following species recruitment expressed as Y = A - B (e~(-ex)) The resultant curve rises from the value (A-B) when X (sample size) = 0, and steadily reaches a maximum value A, the asymptote of species numbers, as X becomes large.