Advanced search
Start date
Betweenand
Related content
(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Bottom-up multitrophic effects in resprouting plants

Full text
Author(s):
Kersch-Becker, Monica F. [1, 2] ; Lewinsohn, Thomas M. [3]
Total Authors: 2
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Programa Posgrad Ecol, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil
[2] Cornell Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Ithaca, NY 14853 - USA
[3] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Depto Biol Anim, Lab Interacoes Insetos Plantas, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil
Total Affiliations: 3
Document type: Journal article
Source: ECOLOGY; v. 93, n. 1, p. 9-16, JAN 2012.
Web of Science Citations: 5
Abstract

Severe damage often provokes compensatory resprouting of plants, which commonly modify plant morphological and phenological traits. Rapid plant growth often results in poorly defended nutrient-rich foliage, which is more susceptible to foliar-chewing herbivores. It is less known how other guilds of arthropods are affected by plant regrowth. We tested the hypotheses that clipping-induced resprouting and nutrient availability, separately and in combination, would (1) influence plant traits, (2) benefit chewing herbivores, sap-suckers, gaiters, and pre-dispersal seed predators, and (3) cascade up to the third trophic level by positively affecting herbivores. Resprouted plants were morphologically and phenologically different from undamaged plants; as a result, seed predation, infestation rate, richness, and diversity of seed predators increased, and species composition was altered. Leaf consumption by chewing herbivores was four times higher on resprouted plants. The number of galls decreased, whereas the abundance of sap-sucking and leaf-chewing insects was not affected. The incidence of predators and parasitoids was also higher on resprouted plants and on plants with nutrients added, but the increase was less pronounced compared to the herbivores they feed on. Thus, the effects of resprouting, contingent on nutrient availability, can propagate simultaneously through two independent tri-trophic level pathways. (AU)