What Drives Caterpillar Guilds on a Tree: Enemy Pressure, Leaf or Tree Growth, Genetic Traits, or Phylogenetic Neighbourhood?

ABSTRACT: Communities of herbivorous insects on individual host trees may be driven by processes ranging from ongoing development via recent microevolution to ancient phylogeny, but the relative importance of these processes and whether they operate via trophic interactions or herbivore movement remains unknown. We determined the leaf phenology, trunk diameter, genotype, and neighbourhood of sessile oak trees (Quercus petraea), and sampled their caterpillar communities. We found that leaf development across a time period of days related to free-living caterpillars, which disappeared with leaf age. Tree growth across decades is related to increased parasitism rate and diversity of herbivores. The microevolution of oak trees across millennia is related to the abundance of leaf-mining casebearer

SUBMITTER: Molleman F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9029432 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature