Plant traits affecting herbivory on tree recruits in highly diverse subtropical forests

Differences in herbivory among woody species can greatly affect the functioning of forest ecosystems, particularly in species‐rich (sub)tropical regions. However, the relative importance of the different plant traits which determine herbivore damage remains unclear. Defence traits can have strong ef...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology letters 2012-07, Vol.15 (7), p.732-739
Main Authors: Schuldt, Andreas, Bruelheide, Helge, Durka, Walter, Eichenberg, David, Fischer, Markus, Kröber, Wenzel, Härdtle, Werner, Ma, Keping, Michalski, Stefan G., Palm, Wolf-Ulrich, Schmid, Bernhard, Welk, Erik, Zhou, Hongzhang, Assmann, Thorsten
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
BEF-China
Biodiversity
Biogeography
Biological and medical sciences
China
Climate
ecosystem functioning
Forestry
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
General forest ecology
Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology
Gutianshan National Nature Reserve
Herbivores
Herbivory
Insecta
latitudinal range
phenolics
phytochemical diversity
plant defence
Plant ecology
Plant Leaves - chemistry
plant-insect interaction
Population Density
Rainforests
species richness
tannins
Terrestrial ecosystems
Trees
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Summary:Differences in herbivory among woody species can greatly affect the functioning of forest ecosystems, particularly in species‐rich (sub)tropical regions. However, the relative importance of the different plant traits which determine herbivore damage remains unclear. Defence traits can have strong effects on herbivory, but rarely studied geographical range characteristics could complement these effects through evolutionary associations with herbivores. Herein, we use a large number of morphological, chemical, phylogenetic and biogeographical characteristics to analyse interspecific differences in herbivory on tree saplings in subtropical China. Unexpectedly, we found no significant effects of chemical defence traits. Rather, herbivory was related to the plants' leaf morphology, local abundance and climatic niche characteristics, which together explained 70% of the interspecific variation in herbivory in phylogenetic regression. Our study indicates that besides defence traits and apparency to herbivores, previously neglected measures of large‐scale geographical host distribution are important factors influencing local herbivory patterns among plant species.
ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01792.x