title: Plant traits affecting herbivory on tree recruits in highly diverse subtropical forests.
abstract: Differences in herbivory among woody species can greatly affect the functioning of forest ecosystems, particularly in species-rich (sub)tropical regions. However, the relative importance of the different plant traits which determine herbivore damage remains unclear. Defence traits can have strong effects on herbivory, but rarely studied geographical range characteristics could complement these effects through evolutionary associations with herbivores. Herein, we use a large number of morphological, chemical, phylogenetic and biogeographical characteristics to analyse interspecific differences in herbivory on tree saplings in subtropical China. Unexpectedly, we found no significant effects of chemical defence traits. Rather, herbivory was related to the plants' leaf morphology, local abundance and climatic niche characteristics, which together explained 70% of the interspecific variation in herbivory in phylogenetic regression. Our study indicates that besides defence traits and apparency to herbivores, previously neglected measures of large-scale geographical host distribution are important factors influencing local herbivory patterns among plant species.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Scharnhorststr. 1, Lüneburg, D-21335, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schuldt
authors.forename: Helge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bruelheide
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Durka
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eichenberg
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Wenzel
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kröber
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Härdtle
authors.forename: Keping
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Stefan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Michalski
authors.forename: Wolf-Ulrich
authors.initials: WU
authors.lastname: Palm
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Welk
authors.forename: Hongzhang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Assmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D002980:Climate; D060434:Herbivory; D007313:Insecta; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D011156:Population Density; D014197:Trees