Magnitude and patterns of herbivory in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

Cyr, Hélène; Face, Michael L.

doi:10.1038/361148a0

Cited by 470 publications

(417 citation statements)

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“…Accordingly, past comparisons have documented that aquatic communities subject to higher levels of consumption support a larger herbivore biomass (Cyr and Pace 1993). Similarly, because most exported detritus is consumed into receiving communities (Mann 1988), the magnitude of detrital export should be indicative of the levels of secondary production maintained by the community beyond its boundaries.…”

Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the controls of these routes are poorly known. Cyr and Pace (1993) showed that absolute consumption by herbivores was associated with net primary production when a wide range of aquatic community types, both freshwater and marine, were compared. However, whether absolute consumption and primary production are correlated across and within diverse types of marine communities is unknown.…”

Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variability and control of carbon consumption, export, and accumulation in marine communities

Cebrián

2002

Limnology & Oceanography

133

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Elucidating the extent and controls of the routes followed by primary production in marine communities (i.e., consumption by herbivores, decomposition, transportation of plant material beyond the community boundariesreferred to as export-or accumulation as biomass or detritus) is essential to understand how much and why they differ in their capacity to fuel secondary production, both within or out of the community, and in their role as sinks in the oceanic carbon budget. Here, using an extensive compilation of published reports, I compare the magnitude of these routes across and within a wide range of community types, including oceanic and coastal phytoplanktonic communities, benthic microalgal communities, coral reef algal beds, macroalgal beds, seagrass meadows, marshes, and mangroves. Furthermore, I examine whether the variability in the magnitude of these routes among and within types is associated with that in the magnitude of primary production. In general, different community types showed similar levels of consumption by herbivores and export, in spite of substantial within-type variability. On the contrary, substantial differences in detritus decomposition and accumulation were found among types: coral reef algal beds and benthic microalgal communities tended to show the highest and lowest levels of decomposition, respectively, whereas marshes and oceanic phytoplanktonic communities tended to show the largest and smallest levels of detritus accumulation. The results also identify primary production as a robust (i.e., applicable to a wide range of environmental conditions and communities) control of the variability in herbivory and decomposition among marine communities. The role of primary production as a control of export and detritus accumulation is generally minor and only restricted to coastal phytoplanktonic and benthic microalgal communities, for export, and marshes and mangroves for detritus accumulation.

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Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability and control of carbon consumption, export, and accumulation in marine communities

Cebrián

2002

Limnology & Oceanography

133

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“…With 80-90% of annual plant production ending up as detritus, understanding the cascading effects of plant-herbivore interactions on decomposition is essential to understanding vital ecosystem processes in both aquatic and terrestrial systems [7,8]. Decomposers play no direct role in the interactions between terrestrial plants and their arboreal herbivores.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cascading effects of induced terrestrial plant defences on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem function

Jackrel

Wootton

2015

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Herbivores induce plants to undergo diverse processes that minimize costs to the plant, such as producing defences to deter herbivory or reallocating limited resources to inaccessible portions of the plant. Yet most plant tissue is consumed by decomposers, not herbivores, and these defensive processes aimed to deter herbivores may alter plant tissue even after detachment from the plant. All consumers value nutrients, but plants also require these nutrients for primary functions and defensive processes. We experimentally simulated herbivory with and without nutrient additions on red alder (Alnus rubra), which supplies the majority of leaf litter for many rivers in western North America. Simulated herbivory induced a defence response with cascading effects: terrestrial herbivores and aquatic decomposers fed less on leaves from stressed trees. This effect was context dependent: leaves from fertilizedonly trees decomposed most rapidly while leaves from fertilized trees receiving the herbivory treatment decomposed least, suggesting plants funnelled a nutritionally valuable resource into enhanced defence. One component of the defence response was a decrease in leaf nitrogen leading to elevated carbon : nitrogen. Aquatic decomposers prefer leaves naturally low in C : N and this altered nutrient profile largely explains the lower rate of aquatic decomposition. Furthermore, terrestrial soil decomposers were unaffected by either treatment but did show a preference for local and nitrogen-rich leaves. Our study illustrates the ecological implications of terrestrial herbivory and these findings demonstrate that the effects of selection caused by terrestrial herbivory in one ecosystem can indirectly shape the structure of other ecosystems through ecological fluxes across boundaries.

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“…Herbivory on freshwater aquatic angiosperms can be as intense as on terrestrial vegetation (Cyr and Pace, 1993). Biomass loss of macrophytes (Lodge et al, 1998) and even changes in macrophyte community composition due to herbivory by both vertebrate and invertebrate (Johnson et al, 1998;Gross et al, 2001) herbivores have been reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Choi

Bareiss

Walenciak

et al. 2002

Journal of Chemical Ecology

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Abstract-Larvae of Acentria ephemerella live fully submerged, feeding on submersed aquatic angiosperms such as pondweeds (Potamogeton spp.) and Myriophyllum spicatum. Only the latter contains high concentrations of hydrolyzable tannins known to interfere with the growth of insect herbivores. We tested whether larvae grow faster on Potamogeton perfoliatus or M. spicatum and whether this is due to polyphenols in their food source. Larvae originating from the same egg clutch grew faster and larger on P. perfoliatus than on M. spicatum. The same growth response was observed with larvae that spent winter diapause on either P. perfoliatus or M. spicatum. These larvae were fed either with their host plant or the other macrophyte. No prior feeding effect was found, but growth of larvae reared on M. spicatum was less than when grown on P. perfoliatus. Larvae from another egg-clutch reared on M. spicatum, either from lake or cultivated in aquaria, exhibited reduced growth on the lake plants. P. perfoliatus contained less than 1% and M. spicatum (aquarium or field material) between 5 and 9% phenolic compounds. No differences in nitrogen content of leaves were found, but apical shoot sections of M. spicatum exhibited a significantly higher nitrogen content than P. perfoliatus. Our results indicate that hydrolyzable tannins are responsible for the reduced growth of Acentria when fed with M. spicatum.

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Magnitude and patterns of herbivory in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

Cited by 470 publications

References 38 publications

Variability and control of carbon consumption, export, and accumulation in marine communities

Variability and control of carbon consumption, export, and accumulation in marine communities

Cascading effects of induced terrestrial plant defences on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem function

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