How do soil resources affect herbivory in tropical plants along environmental gradients? A test using contrasting congeneric species

Abstract

Plants adapted to different habitats exhibit differences in functional traits and these characteristics are in uenced by soil properties. We tested the hypothesis that soil resource availability in uences the functional traits of plants, affecting therefore herbivory levels. We examined three Byrsonima plant species with different life forms that occurred across a distinct edaphic habitat along the Doce River Basin, South-eastern Brazil. We characterize habitats according to soil nutrient concentration and measured functional characteristics of crown architecture, leaf nutrients, sclerophylly, leaf area and leaf density. In addition, we evaluated how these variables in uenced herbivory levels of congeneric plants.Our data have shown that species along a gradient of soil nutrients have functional characteristics in uenced by habitat, which in turn affected herbivory levels. By comparing species from different life forms but within the same genus along a stress-gradient of continuous habitats, we described a corresponding gradient of plant functional traits and tissue consumption by herbivorous insects.

Large and thin leaves are compromised more by chewers

“…At local scales, certain functional traits explain the intensity of herbivory well, including leaf nitrogen content, dry matter content, condensed tannins, toughness, and life span (Coley, 1988; Lind et al, 2013; Loranger et al, 2012; Poorter et al, 2004). However, various abiotic factors (such as solar irradiation and soil nutrient conditions) affect the functional traits and herbivory of leaves, even at a relatively small spatial scale (Coelho da Silva et al, 2021; Pinto et al, 2021). In addition, differences in plant biodiversity across biomes impact the magnitude of herbivory (Jactel et al, 2021; Muiruri et al, 2019).…”