2.2 Relationship between insect diversity and plants
Relationships between insect assemblages and plant
communities are another key topig requiring urgent
research attention. Insect diversity could be affected by
parameters related to vegetation structure such as plant
height, plant size or leaf shape (Price and Wilson 1979;
Lawton 1983; Haysom and Coulson 1998, Axmacher
et a|.2004). Insect species richness often increases
with an increase in vegetation height, with the highest
diversity recorded in full-grown forests (e.g. Treweek e/
al. 1997; Haysom and Coulson 1998; Piiyry et aL.2006).
This has been related to greater resource availability in
mature forest ecosystems (Lawton 1983). Nonetheless,
interactions are highly complex, and higher diversity has
also been observed in open habitats as compared to closed
forests, potentially in reaction to changes in microclimatic
conditions (e.g. Axmacher et a|.2004;2009)