Tree diversity drives associational resistance to herbivory at both forest edge and interior.

ABSTRACT: Tree diversity is increasingly acknowledged as an important driver of insect herbivory. However, there is still a debate about the direction of associational effects that can range from associational resistance (i.e., less damage in mixed stands than in monocultures) to the opposite, associational susceptibility. Discrepancies among published studies may be due to the overlooked effect of spatially dependent processes such as tree location within forests. We addressed this issue by measuring crown defoliation and leaf damage made by different guilds of insect herbivores on oaks growing among conspecific versus heterospecific neighbors at forest edges versus interior, in two closed sites in SW France forests. Overall, oaks were significantly less defoliated among heterospecific neighbors (i

SUBMITTER: Guyot V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6706233 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature