Effects of roads on Castanopsis carlesii seedlings and their leaf herbivory in a subtropical forest in China.
The effects of a forest road on Castanopsis carlesii (Hemsley) Hayata (Fagales: Fagaceae) seedlings and their leaf herbivory were investigated in a subtropical forest at Jiulianshan National Nature Reserve, Jiangxi, China. A total of 1124 seedlings, 33949 leaves, 468 leaf mines, and 205 leaf galls were found. Generally, individual numbers, tree heights, and leaf numbers of C. carlesii seedlings became lower with increasing distances from the road. These results might indicate that old seedlings were fewer and survival rate of seedlings was lower in forest interiors. Leaf miners preferred the seedlings close to the forest road, while leaf gallers preferred the seedlings about 2 m from the road. Species diversity of leaf miners was higher in the forest interior area, while species diversity of leaf gallers was higher near the road. However, both leaf miners and leaf gallers decreased in general from the road to the interior forest. There were interspecific differences in the effects of roads on leaf miner species and leaf galler species. The effects of the road on seedlings and insects could be explained by varying microhabitat conditions and different ecological strategies.
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, GanNan Normal University, Ganzhou 341000, China National Navel-Orange Engineering Research Center, Ganzhou 341000, China ecoinformatics@gmail.com.
Xiao-Hua
XH
Dai
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, GanNan Normal University, Ganzhou 341000, China 419893498@qq.com.
Jia-Sheng
JS
Xu
School of Life and Environmental Sciences, GanNan Normal University, Ganzhou 341000, China 1031345447@qq.com.
Lu-Rong
LR
Cai
D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D004777:Environment; D029962:Fagaceae / Q000254:growth & development*; D020387:Food Chain; D065928:Forests; D060434:Herbivory; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000254:growth & development; D036226:Seedlings / Q000254:growth & development
leaf gallers; leaf miners; road ecology; species diversity