Response of Background Herbivory in Mature Birch Trees to Global Warming

Abstract

Given the time scale based on the duration of exposure to global warming, natural climate-gradient studies and experimental manipulations have detected long-term (decades to centuries) and short-term (years to decades) ecological responses to global warming. Combination of these two complementary approaches within a single study may enable prediction of the likely responses of ecological processes to global warming. To understand how global warming affects plant–herbivore interactions within a canopy of Erman’s birch, we combined an elevational gradient study and a warming experiment involving mature birch trees in which the soil and tree branches were warmed separately. In the elevational gradient study, herbivory by chewing insects and plant growth increased as elevation decreased, and the concentrations of condensed tannins and total phenolics in the leaves decreased. In the warming experiment, soil warming alone increased herbivory, and the addition of branch warming amplified the effect on herbivory. Soil warming alone decreased the tannin concentration, and the addition of branch warming led to a further reduction. The variation in herbivory was best explained by the tannin content of leaves. Our experimental results demonstrate that the decreased tannin content of leaves due to a combination of soil and branch warming was an important driver of increased herbivory in the canopy of the mature birch trees. The similar tendencies in the short- and long-term responses imply that global warming is likely to increase background herbivory in mature birch trees by decreasing the tannin content of leaves in the canopy.

Effects of experimental warming at the microhabitat scale on oak leaf traits and insect herbivory across a contrasting environmental gradient

“…Microhabitat‐level warming, on the other hand, increased leaf herbivory, consistent with previous studies pointing at temperature‐driven increases in insect metabolic rates or changes in feeding behaviour as potential mechanisms (Bale et al 2002, Hamann et al 2021). For instance, Nakamura et al (2022) recently reported that microhabitat‐scale warming of 5°C above ambient temperature using heat resistance cables (in the soil and branches) markedly increased herbivory by chewing insects on birch trees. Similarly, Lemoine et al (2013) found that consumption rates by the generalist herbivore Popillia japonica on several plant species increased under microhabitat warming.…”