Forest canopies are complex and highly diverse environments. Their diversity is
affected by pronounced gradients in abiotic and biotic conditions, including variation
in leaf chemistry. We hypothesised that branch-localised
defence induction
and vertical stratification in mature oaks constitute sources of chemical variation
that extend across trophic levels. To test this, we combined manipulation of plant
defences, predation monitoring, food-choice
trials with herbivores and sampling of
herbivore assemblages. Both induction and vertical stratification affected branch
chemistry, but the effect of induction was stronger. Induction increased predation
in the canopy and reduced herbivory in bioassays. The effects of increased predation
affected herbivore assemblages by decreasing their abundance, and indirectly,
their richness. In turn, we show that there are multiple factors contributing to
variation across canopies. Branch-localised
induction, variation between tree individuals
and predation may be the ones with particularly strong effects on diverse
assemblages of insects in temperate forests.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:86427 |
| Date | 11 July 2023 |
| Creators | Volf, Martin, Volfová, Tereza, Seifert, Carlo L., Ludwig, Antonia, Engelmann, Rolf A., Jorge, Leonardo Ré, Richter, Ronny, Schedl, Andreas, Weinhold, Alexander, Wirth, Christian, van Dam, Nicole M. |
| Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 1461-0248 |
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