Credit: Photo courtesy of University of Nevada, Reno

Caption: Doctoral candidate Danielle Salcido of the University of Nevada, Reno's College of Science works with Earthwatch volunteers in Costa Rica, including this team of high school students from Beacon Academy in Chicago, to collect caterpillar, parasite and plant data for research.

Reno, Nev. - Using a 22-year dataset of plant-caterpillar-parasitoid interactions collected within a patch of protected Costa Rican lowland Caribbean forest, scientists report declines in caterpillar and parasitoid diversity and density that are paralleled by losses in an important ecosystem service: biocontrol of herbivores by parasitoids. The study by University of Nevada, Reno researchers, published in Scientific Reports this week, reveals distressing declines among common caterpil...

Keywords: Biodiversity, Biology, Climate Change, Ecology and Environment, Entomology, Parasitology,

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