Leaf traits and herbivore selection in the field and in cafeteria experiments

By N. Pérez‐Harguindeguy, Sandra Díaz, F. Vendramini, J. H. C. Cornelissen, D. Gurvich, Marcelo R. Cabido. 2003

244 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Despite the vast diversity and complexity of herbivores, plants and their interactions, most authors agree that a small number of components of leaf quality affect preference by generalist herbivores in a predictable way. However, herbivore preference is determined not only by intrinsic plant attributes and herbivore biology but also by the environmental context. Within this framework, we aimed to analyse general interspecific trends in the association between herbivory and leaf traits over a wide range of angiosperms from central Argentina. We (i) tested for consistent associations between leaf traits, consumption in the field, and preference of generalist invertebrate herbivores in cafeteria experiments; (ii) assessed how well herbivore preferences in cafeterias matched leaf consumption in the field; and (iii) developed a simple conceptual model linking leaf traits, herbivore preference in cafeterias and consumption in the field. In general, we found that tender leaves with higher nutritional quality were preferred by herbivores, both in the field and in cafeteria experiments. According to our model, this relationship between field and cafeteria consumption and leaf quality is observed when generalist herbivores and plants of high accessibility are considered. However, differences between leaf consumption in the field and in cafeteria experiments can also be found. At least two reasons can account for this: (i) specialized plant-herbivore relationships often occur in the field, whereas cafeteria experiments tend to consider only one or a few generalist herbivores; (ii) different plant species growing in the field often differ in their degree of accessibility to herbivores, whereas in cafeteria experiments all species are equally accessible. Our results add new evidence to a growing consensus that, although herbivory in the field is determined by many factors, consistent patterns of differential susceptibility to foliar feeders can be found in leaves differing in nutritional quality and thus in resource-use strategy.

Subfields: Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a26d8eda8011a8a1d6de83efca901ee64f47db87

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Citations in the corpus

Traits link drought resistance with herbivore defence and plant economics in semi‐arid grasslands: The central roles of phenology and leaf dry matter content (2020, background): “…and P (discussed with respect to leaf economics, below), suggest that drought-tolerant species may provide poor quality food for herbivores not only because they are fibrous and tough, but also because they lack sufficient nutrients (Pérez-Harguindeguy et al., 2003; Wigley, Fritz, & Coetsee, 2018).”
Plant trait responses to grazing – a global synthesis (2007, background): “, 1996), and validated in a small number of studies (Pérez-Harguindeguy et al., 2003; Duru et al., 2004).”
Plant functional traits, herbivore selectivity and response to sheep grazing in Patagonian steppe grasslands (2005, background): “Selectivity by invertebrate herbivores has been found to be negatively related to leaf toughness and positively related to SLA and other direct indicators of high quality (Coley 1983; Herms & Mattson 1992; Cornelissen et al. 1999; Díaz et al. 1999; Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2003).”
Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in terrestrial ecosystems: Its impact on plant communities and consequences across trophic levels (2018, background): “…10 quality, there is evidence in the literature for the importance of two leaf traits, leaf dry matter 11 content (LDMC, g/g) and specific leaf area (SLA, g/m2) in determining the response of invertebrate 12 communities (Perez-Harguindeguy et al. 2003; Storkey et al. 2013; Storkey et al. 2015a).”
Plant structural traits and their role in anti-herbivore defence (2007, background): “Perez-Harguindeguy et al. (2003) observed that LMA (SLA) and work to tear were more highly correlated (negative, though there was no test whether this was significantly so) with leaf area consumed by snails and grasshoppers than leaf nitrogen and water contents (positive), and carbon : nitrogen…”
Plant functional types: are we getting any closer to the Holy Grail? (2007, background): “…and chemical traits known to be associated with nutrient or climatic gradients influence patterns of herbivory by generalist invertebrates (Grime et al. 1996, Wardle et al 1998, Cornelissen et al. 1999, Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2003) and vertebrates (McKey et al. 1978, Bryant et al. 1991).”
The plant traits that drive ecosystems: Evidence from three continents (2004, methodology): “Preference by model herbivores was determined as percentage of leaf area consumed by garden snails (Helix aspersa) in cafeteria experiments, involving ten 1-cm2 replicates per species, randomly allocated to positions in a grid (Grime et al. 1996; Cornelissen et al. 1999; Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 20”
Causes and consequences of variation in leaf mass per area (LMA): a meta-analysis. (2009, background): “In such cases protein and water content will be better predictors for a given subset of species than LMA itself (Pérez-Harguindeguy et al., 2003).”
Differential responses of plant functional trait to grazing between two contrasting dominant C3 and C4 species in a typical steppe of Inner Mongolia, China (2011, background): “…the SLA, leaf Nmass and Narea (except L. chinensis in the dry year) of both species increased or relatively unchanged under high grazing pressure, which might be favorable for leaf turnover and shoot regrowth (Cingolani et al. 2005; Evju et al. 2009; Pérez-Harguindeguy et al. 2003; Westoby 1999).”