Doubling of biomass production in European boreal forest trees by a four-year suppression of background insect herbivory

Shestakov, A. L.; Filippov, B. Yu.; Zubrii, Natalia A.; Klemola, Tero; Zezin, Ilya; Zverev, Vitali; Zvereva, Elena L.; Kozlov, Mikhail V.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2020.117992

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Low levels of insect folivory have long been considered "negligible" for plants based on the results of short-term studies. However, both artificial defoliation and exclusion of herbivores by insecticide application consistently demonstrate that minor losses (2-8% annually) of leaf area over the long-term substantially reduced aboveground biomass production in North European forest trees Shestakov et al 2020). Multiyear experiments addressing root herbivory are relatively rare, and meta-analysis of their outcomes has yielded contradictory results .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High tolerance to simulated root herbivory in hydroponically grown cuttings of Salix phylicifolia

Kozlov

Zvereva

2021

J. For. Res.

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The shortage of information regarding the effects of root damage on forest plants, especially trees and shrubs, is the most critical gap in our knowledge of belowground insect herbivory. This study examines how the tea-leaved willow, Salix phylicifolia, responds to simulated root herbivory and how nutrient availability affects these responses. Hydroponically grown cuttings were used to precisely apply the desired levels of root damage. Root: shoot ratios increased proportionally to the intensity of root damage, whereas specific leaf area, leaf water content and chlorophyll fluorescence were not affected. The removal of 2–64% of roots once in early summer and the removal of 25% of roots three times during the summer did not change biomass production by cuttings. The repeated removal of 50 and 75% of roots decreased shoot biomass and, to a lesser extent, total root production. The tolerance of tea-leaved willow to root damage was greater in low nutrient treatment than in high nutrient treatment, thus supporting the Growth Rate Model. According to this model, in low resource conditions plants do not attain their maximum growth rate and therefore have a higher capacity for regrowth after damage. We conclude that, in the absence of water limitations, tea-leaved willow shows high tolerance to root losses and is unlikely to be affected by realistic levels of root herbivory.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High tolerance to simulated root herbivory in hydroponically grown cuttings of Salix phylicifolia

Kozlov

Zvereva

2021

J. For. Res.

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“…Of course, factorially excluding generalists versus specialists, or insects with unique feeding modes, to tease apart their individual effects is extremely challenging (Siemann et al, 2004).…”

Section: What S Hort-term S Tud Ie S Missmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long‐term impacts of insect herbivores on plant populations and communities

Agrawal

Maron

2022

Journal of Ecology

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1. As major consumers of plants, insect herbivores have strong potential to influence long-term patterns of plant abundance and community structure. Nonetheless, remarkably few manipulative experiments exclude insects for three or more years. Thus, how often, and under what conditions insects have enduring impacts remains unclear. Here we summarize the key conceptual issues and evidence from long-term studies on the impact of insects on plant populations and communities.2. Models that project effects of herbivores on plant population growth, based on demographic study, suggest that insects often limit plant asymptotic population growth. However, empirical estimations of insect impacts on plant abundance based on long-term experimental studies are few. As such, the strength and conditionality of compensatory mechanisms (such as density dependence and seedbanks) that may dampen (or exacerbate) the negative effects of insects on plant populations remains unclear. The influences of insects on plant range size and limits, invasion success and biocontrol are well-established research areas, but are also underexplored in long-term experiments.3. Insect herbivores can influence plant community structure and diversity, and change successional trajectories, often through modification of plant competitive ability. Nonetheless, effects are mostly known from mesic grasslands, take years to manifest and the extent of insect damage does not always predict their impact. The relative importance of specialist versus generalist herbivores is unclear, as is how feedbacks between plant productivity, herbivory and plant species richness contribute to community dynamics over time.4. Synthesis. The few existing long-term insect suppression experiments, and many short-term studies, suggest that insect herbivores can importantly affect plant populations and communities. Although challenging, experimental studies spanning multiple plant generations could greatly enhance our ability to develop a more predictive framework for how insect herbivores influence plant populations and communities. K E Y W O R D Scompetition-by-herbivory interaction, determinants of plant community diversity and structure, insect herbivory, long-term manipulative experiments, plant population and community dynamics, plant-herbivore interactions, plant-plant interactions | 2801

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“…Forest health also can be compromised by insect herbivory, including both devastating outbreaks of forest pests and changes in background herbivory. Despite relatively low levels of plant damage (5%–7% of leaf biomass annually: Kozlov et al, 2015), background herbivory greatly reduces growth of woody plants (Shestakov et al, 2020; Zvereva et al, 2012). Although warming, drought, CO 2 increases, N deposition, and air pollution were repeatedly found to increase herbivory (Lincoln et al, 1993; Logan et al, 2003), these conclusions were likely affected by research and publication biases (Zvereva & Kozlov, 2010) and/or were derived from results of short‐term laboratory experiments, which tend to overestimate the effects relative to natural ecosystems (Bebber, 2021).…”

Section: Combined Effects Of Multiple Factors On Forest Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic roadmap to assess forest vulnerability under air pollution and climate change

Marco

Sicard

Zhu

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

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Although it is an integral part of global change, most of the research addressing the effects of climate change on forests have overlooked the role of environmental pollution. Similarly, most studies investigating the effects of air pollutants on forests have generally neglected the impacts of climate change. We review the current knowledge on combined air pollution and climate change effects on global forest ecosystems and identify several key research priorities as a roadmap for the future. Specifically, we recommend (1) the establishment of much denser array of monitoring sites, particularly in the South Hemisphere; (2) further integration of ground and satellite monitoring; (3) generation of flux‐based standards and critical levels taking into account the sensitivity of dominant forest tree species; (4) long‐term monitoring of N, S, P cycles and base cations deposition together at global scale; (5) intensification of experimental studies, addressing the combined effects of different abiotic factors on forests by assuring a better representation of taxonomic and functional diversity across the ~73,000 tree species on Earth; (6) more experimental focus on phenomics and genomics; (7) improved knowledge on key processes regulating the dynamics of radionuclides in forest systems; and (8) development of models integrating air pollution and climate change data from long‐term monitoring programs.

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Doubling of biomass production in European boreal forest trees by a four-year suppression of background insect herbivory

Cited by 11 publications

References 48 publications

High tolerance to simulated root herbivory in hydroponically grown cuttings of Salix phylicifolia

High tolerance to simulated root herbivory in hydroponically grown cuttings of Salix phylicifolia

Long‐term impacts of insect herbivores on plant populations and communities

Strategic roadmap to assess forest vulnerability under air pollution and climate change

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