First record of herbivory of the invasive macrophyte Hedychium coronarium J. König (Zingiberaceae)

• Autor(a) principal: Castro,Wagner Antonio Chiba de
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Moitas,Marcel Loyo, Lobato,Gabriela Monteiro, Cunha-Santino,Marcela Bianchessi da, Matos,Dalva Maria da Silva
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Biota Neotropica
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1676-06032013000400368
• topic: butterfly ginger; aquatic weed; capybaras

Invasive species can cause structural and functional changes in their non-native habitats, such as changes in the trophic chain. We describe ramet herbivory of butterfly ginger, an aggressive aquatic weed in Brazil, by capybaras in a floodplain area of a Cerrado reserve. This is the first record of herbivory of H. coronarium in invaded areas. Capybaras could be using the butterfly ginger as habitat and as a food resource, which could cause changes in apparent competition between these invasive and native macrophytes.