Forest defoliator pests alter carbon and nitrogen cycles.

ABSTRACT: Climate change may foster pest epidemics in forests, and thereby the fluxes of elements that are indicators of ecosystem functioning. We examined compounds of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in insect faeces, leaf litter, throughfall and analysed the soils of deciduous oak forests (Quercus petraea L.) that were heavily infested by the leaf herbivores winter moth (Operophtera brumata L.) and mottled umber (Erannis defoliaria L.). In infested forests, total net canopy-to-soil fluxes of C and N deriving from insect faeces, leaf litter and throughfall were 30- and 18-fold higher compared with uninfested oak forests, with 4333 kg C ha^-1 and 319 kg N ha^-1, respectively, during a pest outbreak over 3 years. In infested forests, C and N levels in soil solutio

SUBMITTER: L-M-Arnold A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5098976 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature