title: Species height and root symbiosis, two factors influencing antiherbivore defense of woody plants in East African savanna.
abstract: In East African savanna we found that leaves of mature tree species with symbiotic N2fixation contained lower concentrations of polyphenols than leaves of species without this symbiosis. We suggest that the root symbiosis is costly to the plant in terms of photosynthate that otherwise could be used in chemical defense. Further, a negative relationship between concentration of polyphenols and the height of the species was found, independent of their ability to fix N2. These findings suggest that root symbioses and apparency to herbivory are important factors mediating the production of chemical defenses in plants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, S-901 83, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thomas Palo
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, S-901 83, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gowda
authors.affiliation: Section of Forest Science, Department of Ecological Botany, University of Umeå, S-901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Högberg
keywords: Herbivory; Nitrogen fixation; Plant defenses; Polyphenols; Savanna