title: Plant age and attack by the bud galler, Euura mucronata.
abstract: As ramets of the willow, Salix cinerea L. (Salicaceae) aged shoot length decreased in the six populations studied in S.E. Finland. Many traits correlated positively with shoot length: basal diameter, number of internodes, internode length, leaf size, and length of growing period. The bud-galling sawfly, Euura mucronata (Hartig) Man. (Churchill) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), responded positively to shoot length or correlated traits, and negatively to ramet age in three forest populations. This herbivore attacked the most vigorous plants in a population, and numbers of attacks declined as ramets aged and senesced. The generality of this kind of herbivore response to plant quality is emphasized.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, 86011, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.|Museum of Northern Arizona, 86001, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Joensuu, SF-80101, Joensuu 10, Finland.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Roininen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Joensuu, SF-80101, Joensuu 10, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tahvanainen
keywords: Bud galler; Euura mucronata; Herbivore; Plant age; Salix cinerea