Plant richness, land use and temperature differently shape invertebrate leaf-chewing herbivory on plant functional groups

authored by

Ute Fricke, Sarah Redlich, Jie Zhang, Cynthia Tobisch, Sandra Rojas-Botero, Caryl S. Benjamin, Jana Englmeier, Cristina Ganuza, Rebekka Riebl, Johannes Uhler, Lars Uphus, Jörg Ewald, Johannes Kollmann, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter

Abstract

Higher temperatures can increase metabolic rates and carbon demands of invertebrate herbivores, which may shift leaf-chewing herbivory among plant functional groups differing in C:N (carbon:nitrogen) ratios. Biotic factors influencing herbivore species richness may modulate these temperature effects. Yet, systematic studies comparing leaf-chewing herbivory among plant functional groups in different habitats and landscapes along temperature gradients are lacking. This study was conducted on 80 plots covering large gradients of temperature, plant richness and land use in Bavaria, Germany. We investigated proportional leaf area loss by chewing invertebrates (‘herbivory’) in three plant functional groups on open herbaceous vegetation. As potential drivers, we considered local mean temperature (range 8.4–18.8 °C), multi-annual mean temperature (range 6.5–10.0 °C), local plant richness (species and family level, ranges 10–51 species, 5–25 families), adjacent habitat type (forest, grassland, arable field, settlement), proportion of grassland and landscape diversity (0.2–3 km scale). We observed differential responses of leaf-chewing herbivory among plant functional groups in response to plant richness (family level only) and habitat type, but not to grassland proportion, landscape diversity and temperature—except for multi-annual mean temperature influencing herbivory on grassland plots. Three-way interactions of plant functional group, temperature and predictors of plant richness or land use did not substantially impact herbivory. We conclude that abiotic and biotic factors can assert different effects on leaf-chewing herbivory among plant functional groups. At present, effects of plant richness and habitat type outweigh effects of temperature and landscape-scale land use on herbivory among legumes, forbs and grasses.

External Organisation(s)

Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg

Type

Article

Journal

OECOLOGIA

Volume

199

Pages

407-417

No. of pages

11

ISSN

0029-8519

Publication date

06.2022

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 15 - Life on Land, SDG 13 - Climate Action

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-022-05199-4 (Access: Open)