Plant apparency drives leaf herbivory in seedling communities across four subtropical forests

Martini, Francesco; Aluthwattha, S. Tharanga; Mammides, Christos; Armani, Mohammed; Goodale, Uromi Manage

doi:10.1007/s00442-020-04804-8

Cited by 15 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Our finding was in an opposite direction with the prediction of the plant apparency hypothesis. Previous studies supporting the plant apparency hypothesis often were conducted with different sized saplings or individual adults of the same species (Castagneyrol et al 2013;Zverev et al 2017;Martini et al 2021) and their ranges in canopy heights was quite limited (e.g., less than 2 m for saplings and less than 20 m for adults) compared to our work. It should be notified that the effect of plant apparency and ontogenetic effects on herbivory were intertwined and could not be separated in these studies (Boege & Marquis 2005).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 61%

Canopy height, rather than neighbourhood effects, shapes leaf herbivory in a tropical rainforest

Zhang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Factors shaping the interspecific variations in herbivory have puzzled ecologists for decades and several hypotheses have been proposed. In a tropical rain forest in Yunnan Province, China, we collected 6,732 leaves from 129 species with canopy heights ranging from 1.6 m to 65.0 m above the ground. We tested the role of plant apparency, leaf traits and the diversity, composition and structural heterogeneity of neighbors in shaping the interspecific variations in herbivory. Results show that leaf herbivory decreased with canopy height and specific leaf area and increased with leaf size. However, neighboring species’ diversity, composition, and structural heterogeneity showed no association with herbivory. Therefore, neither the plant apparency hypothesis nor the associational resistance hypothesis was supported in this hyper-diverse tropical rainforest. Our results highlight the importance of vertical structures and organic sizes in shaping herbivory patterns in natural communities.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 61%

Canopy height, rather than neighbourhood effects, shapes leaf herbivory in a tropical rainforest

Zhang

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Our finding was contrary to the assumption of the plant apparency hypothesis. Previous studies supporting the plant apparency hypothesis were often conducted with differently sized saplings or individual adults of the same species (Castagneyrol et al, 2013;Martini et al, 2021;Zverev et al, 2017) and their ranges in canopy heights were quite limited (e.g., less than 2 m for saplings and less than 20 m for adults) compared with our work. It should be noted that the effect of plant apparency…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…Several other hypotheses have been proposed for explaining the variations in herbivory across different individuals or species within a community: The plant apparency hypothesis assumes that more apparency species or individuals are more easily found by herbivores and those species or individuals will have higher herbivory levels than others (Feeny, 1976). Plant height (or size) and abundance are two commonly used indicators of apparency in both the original paper (Feeny, 1976) and related case studies (Castagneyrol et al, 2013; Grossman et al, 2019; Jackson et al, 2022; Kurokawa et al, 2022; Martini et al, 2021; Zverev et al, 2017), with the assumption that taller/larger plant individuals or species with higher abundance are visually more apparency for herbivores. In contrast, the associational resistance hypothesis predicts that neighbors matter, and species diversity among neighbors dilutes the herbivore and provides resistance to herbivory (Atsatt & Odowd, 1976; Barbosa et al, 2009). The negative density dependence hypothesis argues that herbivory should increase with conspecific plant density (Janzen, 1970; Janzen et al, 1976).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The plant apparency hypothesis assumes that more apparency species or individuals are more easily found by herbivores and those species or individuals will have higher herbivory levels than others (Feeny, 1976). Plant height (or size) and abundance are two commonly used indicators of apparency in both the original paper (Feeny, 1976) and related case studies (Castagneyrol et al, 2013;Grossman et al, 2019;Jackson et al, 2022;Kurokawa et al, 2022;Martini et al, 2021;Zverev et al, 2017), with the assumption that taller/larger plant individuals or species with higher abundance are visually more apparency for herbivores. 2.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Canopy height, rather than neighborhood effects, shapes leaf herbivory in a tropical rainforest

Zhang

et al. 2023

Ecology

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Factors shaping the interspecific variations in herbivory have puzzled ecologists for decades and several hypotheses have been proposed to explain interspecific variation in leaf herbivory. In a tropical rainforest in Yunnan Province, China, we collected 6732 leaves from 129 species with canopy heights ranging from 1.6 to 65.0 m above the ground. We tested the role of canopy height, the diversity, composition and structural heterogeneity of neighbors and leaf traits in shaping the interspecific variations in herbivory. Results show that leaf herbivory decreased with canopy height and specific leaf area (SLA) and increased with leaf size. However, neighboring species' diversity, composition, and structural heterogeneity showed no association with herbivory. Therefore, neither the visual apparency effect nor the associational resistance effect was detected in this hyperdiverse tropical rainforest. These findings highlight the importance of vertical structure in shaping herbivory patterns in natural communities.

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“…The species composition of both plants and herbivores changes considerably with elevation; therefore, the patterns observed in individual plant species may not reflect the elevational changes in the role of herbivory in mountain ecosystems (Zvereva et al, 2022 ). Nevertheless, most studies of elevational gradients in herbivory are conducted on a single plant species (reviewed by Moreira et al, 2018 ), whereas community‐wide studies are rare (but see De Long et al, 2016 ; Descombres et al, 2020 ; Martini et al, 2021 ; Metcalfe et al, 2014 ; Zvereva et al, 2022 ). Community‐wide estimates are essential for understanding the consequences of herbivory on plant community structure and ecosystem functioning (Anstett et al, 2016 ); consequently, comparisons between species‐specific and community‐wide approaches taken to quantify herbivory patterns within the same elevational gradient are critically required to learn whether the elevational patterns in herbivory observed for individual plant species can be extrapolated to the entire plant community.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevational changes in insect herbivory on woody plants in six mountain ranges of temperate Eurasia: Sources of variation

Kozlov

Zverev

Zvereva

2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Current theory predicts that the intensity of biotic interactions, particularly herbivory, decreases with increasing latitude and elevation. However, recent studies have revealed substantial variation in both the latitudinal and elevational patterns of herbivory. This variation is often attributed to differences in study design and the type of data collected by different researchers. Here, we used a similar sampling protocol along elevational gradients in six mountain ranges, located at different latitudes within temperate Eurasia, to uncover the sources of variation in elevational patterns in insect herbivory on woody plant leaves. We discovered a considerable variation in elevational patterns among different mountain ranges; nevertheless, herbivory generally decreased with increasing elevation at both the community‐wide and individual plant species levels. This decrease was mostly due to openly living defoliators, whereas no significant association was detected between herbivory and elevation among insects living within plant tissues (i.e., miners and gallers). The elevational decrease in herbivory was significant for deciduous plants but not for evergreen plants, and for tall plants but not for low‐stature plants. The community‐wide herbivory increased with increases in both specific leaf area and leaf size. The strength of the negative correlation between herbivory and elevation increased from lower to higher latitudes. We conclude that despite the predicted overall decrease with elevation, elevational gradients in herbivory demonstrate considerable variation, and this variation is mostly associated with herbivore feeding habits, some plant traits, and latitude of the mountain range.

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Plant apparency drives leaf herbivory in seedling communities across four subtropical forests

Cited by 15 publications

References 70 publications

Canopy height, rather than neighbourhood effects, shapes leaf herbivory in a tropical rainforest

Canopy height, rather than neighbourhood effects, shapes leaf herbivory in a tropical rainforest

Canopy height, rather than neighborhood effects, shapes leaf herbivory in a tropical rainforest

Elevational changes in insect herbivory on woody plants in six mountain ranges of temperate Eurasia: Sources of variation

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