Invasive <i>Lonicera maackii</i> (Dipscales: Caprifoliaceae) supports a depauperate arthropod community

Invasion by non-native species is a growing threat to ecosystems and economies. In eastern North American woodlands, invasive exotic shrubs are displacing native plants and transforming understory communities. The displacement of native plants by invasive non-natives may reduce the resources available to higher trophic levels by supporting diminished arthropod communities. Despite a conceptual understanding of the potential for invasive shrubs to transform forest communities, little research has focused on characterizing the arthropod communities they support or their impact on higher trophic levels in eastern North American forests. To address this gap, we compared arthropod diversity, abundance, and community composition on a highly invasive shrub in southwestern Ohio, Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii, Maxim., Dipscales: Caprifoliaceae), to a related, ecologically similar, native shrub, blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium, Linnaeus, Dipscales: Adoxaceae), over a growing season. Relative to the native shrub, we found that L. maackii hosted a depauperate arthropod community overall, with about 25% fewer individuals and 28% fewer species than its native counterpart, V. prunifolium-primarily driven by a smaller herbivore community on L. maackii. In contrast, the abundance and richness of predatory arthropods were similar between the native and invasive shrubs. The arthropod communities on the native and exotic plants broadly overlapped in ordination space; however, community composition varied significantly, albeit modestly. These findings support the prediction that invasive plants support depauperate arthropod communities and provide reduced ecosystem services.