Table 11. Passiflora/herbivore community: summary of niche dimensional elements
Niche dimension Dimensional Element Suggested requirements for growth and survival
Passiflora subgenus Astrophaea Woody slow-growing plants, forest understory
Decaloba Smaller flowered, more fragile, more herbaceous, fast-growing vines.
Partial sun and abundant moisture needed.
High diversity in second growth; plants lack sulfated cyanogenic glycosides. Fruit not edible to humans.
Passiflora Larger flowered, slower-growing, woodier vines. More diverse in forest and forest edge habitats. Edible fruit.
Leaves not edible to Heliconius group I species and some flea beetles (see Table 8): Sulfated cyanogenic glycosides have special properties?
Habitat (stages of succession) Forest Forest (>20y old), forest edge, treefalls, trails through forest.
Passiflora rare (~27/ha.) Much shade, sun patchy, consistent humidity. Different predators.
Second growth

Second growth (<20y old), road edges, wide trails through second growth, artificial successional parcels.
Sun may be intense, air may dry. Different predators.
Passiflora abundant (~2300/ha.)
Larval feeding mode Root/stem feeding flea beetle larvae Require exposed rootlets, as in moist leaf litter?
Large plants with stems lying on ground more likely to have suitable rootlets in leaf litter. Avoid strongly cyanogenic rootlets?
Relatively immune from ant/wasp predation.
Leaf feeding flea beetle larvae Avoid highly cyanogenic host plant foliage (except Red Pedilia?)
Smaller single-stemmed plants OK.
Relatively immune from ant/wasp predation.
Solitary generalist leaf feeding caterpillars Highly sensitive to Ectatomma and other ponerine ants
Do not avoid, maybe attracted to, strongly cyanogenic plants
Very fast growing
Monophagous, group-feeding (except H. melpomene), leaf-feeding caterpillars

Attracted to strongly cyanogenic host plants
Group feeders require large plants.
Relatively slow growing larvae. Social wasp predation?