Induced Response of the Siebold's Beech (Fagus crenataBlume) to Manual Defoliation

Abstract

Siebold's beech (Fagus crenata) was manually defoliated for two successive years. The beech caterpillar (Quadricalcarifera punctatella) was used in a bioassay to determine insect performance. Survival and body size were low on foliage from defoliated trees. Reduced foliar nitrogen and increased tannin content were probably the main causes of the low insect performance. Leaves were less tough on defoliated trees than in controls. Two successive years of manual defoliation caused stronger induced resistance than one year defoliation. The quantity, as well as the quality of the foliage, decreased the year following manual defoliation; total weight of leaves on a tree was less than one half of that before treatment. Severe defoliation may cause a decrease of leaves the following year and starvation may limit populations. Delayed induced resistance of beech trees is proposed as a possible cause of the cyclical population dynamics of Q. punctatella. The delayed induced response also affected folivorous insects other than Q. punctatella.

Biomass Allocation and Leaf Chemical Defence in Defoliated Seedlings of Quercus serrata with Respect to Carbon–Nitrogen Balance

“…This hypothesis explains our results on current-year seedlings, which may be closer to herbaceous plants in terms of the amount of woody tissues; most studies for woody species have used plants older than 3 years (e.g. Tuomi et al, 1984Tuomi et al, , 1988Kamata et al, 1996). It should be noted that LNC was higher in defoliated plants when compared at the same PNC (Fig.…”

“…This result is surprising because many studies reported that LNC in woody species decreased (e.g. Tuomi et al, 1984Tuomi et al, , 1988Kamata et al, 1996;Kudo, 1996) or did not change (Volin et al, 2002;Cerasoli et al, 2004) after defoliation. However, an increase in LNC after defoliation seems to be common in herbaceous species (e.g.…”

“…This explains the above observations: studies for woody species tended to use leaves emerging in the year following the defoliation treatment (e.g. Tuomi et al, 1984;Kamata et al, 1996), while those for herbaceous species used leaves emerging in the same year as defoliation. Heichel and Turner (1983) observed that the photosynthetic capacity increased in leaves that emerged in the year of defoliation in woody species.…”

Changes in the N and P concentrations, N:P ratios, and tannin content in Casuarina equisetifolia branchlets during development and senescence

“…Despite the growing knowledge of the physiological basis and ecological consequences of the presence of leaf phenolics in plant tissues, only a few extensive data sets are available to evaluate the relative importance of the variability of leaf phenolics caused by environmental changes and developmental stages (Kamata et al 1996;Yoshida 1998;Covelo and Gallardo 2001). There is scant information on detailed changes of leaf phenolics concentrations during development and senescence in C. equisetifolia plantations.…”

Within-plant signaling via volatiles in beech (Fagus crenata Blume)

“…Fagus sylvatica in Europe, Fagus orientalis in East Asia, Fagus grandifolia in North America. Japanese beech (Fagus crenata Blume) is a dominant tree species throughout cooltemperate mesic forests in Japan (Kon et al 2005) It was reported that herbivores (Quadricalcartfera puncttell or Lymantria dispar) feeding on beech trees induce not only indirect defense but also increased the carbon/nitrogen ratio, and tannin and phenolic compounds (Kamata et al 1996; Aoyama and Koike 2011).…”