RESUMEN
Experimental reduction of insect grazing pressures suggests that longterm, continuous feeding by phytophagous insects has severely depressed growth and productivity of subalpine Eucalyptus trees (measured by annual ring growth) for at least 25 years.
RESUMEN
Many herbivorous insects have generalized diets over the species' entire geographical ranges but they function as specialists with restricted diets in local communities. Local feeding specialization can be produced by biochemical, behavioral, ecological, and evolutionary processes. Much evidence is incompatible with the widely held assumptions that diet breadth is a species characteristic and that specialization among herbivorous insects implies greater efficiency and less niche overlap.
RESUMEN
We manipulated soil fertility and insect attack for two species of Eucalyptus in natural stands of subalpine woodland on shallow, infertile granitic soils. E. pauciflora and E. stellulata responded in similar ways to simultaneous insecticide and fertilizer treatments. Eliminating herbivorous insects produced the largest changes - improved plant growth, increased leaf N and P, and reduced leaf specific density. Fertilizer regime modified some leaf properties, but had little effect on tree growth. E. stellulata trees were initially shorter than E. pauciflora, but grew faster without herbivores; by the end of the experiment both species were the same size when herbivores were removed. Foliage N and P levels increased most in trees with the most balanced fertilizer addition (NPK), and increased in all trees protected from insects, regardless of fertilizer regime. In this system, herbivorous insects exacerbated the effects of nutrientpoor soils, and may affect dominance of Eucalyptus species in mature forests.
RESUMEN
We examined the movements of Chrysophtharta hectica, a eucalypt-feeding chrysomelid beetle in New South Wales, Australia, in relation to the beetle's sex, age and life-history, and to attributes of its Eucalyptus host plants. Beetle movements within the site were not influenced by beetle age or sex, but may be related to generation. Beetle distributions on the two host plant species, Eucalyptus stellulata and E. pauciflora, were generally clumped. Some of this clumping resulted from preference for E. stellulata over E. pauciflora. Clumping of beetles also occurred within host plant species; some plant individuals were consistently heavily used by beetles over the course of three years. We examined nutritional, spatial and biomass attributes of plants and found plant height and foliage production to be the best predictors of beetle numbers.
RESUMEN
A field study was initiated to determine the patterns of water stress imposition and stomatal resistance to gas exchange in representative species of 2 evergreen sclerophyllous communities. In concurrent experiments plant water potential, temperature and vapor pressure gradient were varied to determine the relative importance of morphological and physiological parameters in delaying onset of water stress during drought periods.In general, stomatal and photosynthetic responses to water stress were similiar in both species. Both were able to fix carbon even when leaf water potentials dropped as low as-25 bars. Stomatal movements were positively correlated with soil water potential rather than to leaf water potential. However, water stress developed much more rapidly in Arbutus menziesii, a plant of more northerly distribution, than in Heteromeles arbutifolia where they occur on adjacent sites. Morphological parameters were primarily responsible for the very different patterns of water stress imposition. Consequently, Arbutus is limited to areas of shorter drought duration than is Heteromeles and this is reflected in their differing distributions.
RESUMEN
Levels of insect attack and yields of leaf essential oils in Eucalyptus vary widely within and among species. We tested the hypotheses that 1) metabolic cost of oil detoxification increases with increasing oil yield, resulting in lower herbivore growth rates and, consequently, 2) in lower herbivore damage to plants. Distribution of insect damage, eggs, immature insects and adults and feeding rates, growth and survivorship of insects do not support the hypotheses, although a threshold level of oil may be necessary to influence herbivorous insects. Herbivorous beetles tested do not detoxify essential oils. Levels of leaf nitrogen, rather than oil content, explained differences in insect feeding and growth.
RESUMEN
Sawfly larvae of the subfamily Perginae have a diverticular pouch of the foregut in which they store an oily fluid that they regurgitate when attacked. The fluid, which is an effective deterrent to ants, birds, and mice, is essentially identical chromatographically to the oils of the Eucalyptus leaves on which the larvae feed. The significance of the defensive use by animals of the "secondary substances" of their food plants is discussed.
RESUMEN
The photosynthetic response of Heteromeles arbutifolia, a California evergreen shrub, was measured in natural habitats representing both the climatic center of distribution and the southern warm arid extreme of this species. At all sites the seasonal carbon gain was limited primarily by available water, secondarily by photoperiod, and only slightly by temperature. Thus, the warmer winter temperatures at the southern habitat would not result in a carbon gain sufficient to offset losses due to the longer drought there. It is thus postulated that the competitive advantage of evergreens over drought deciduous types is often limited at these arid habitats.
RESUMEN
We found the hybrid zone between Eucalyptus amygdalina and Eucalyptus risdonii to be a center of insect and fungal species richness and abundance. Of 40 taxa examined, 73% were significantly more abundant in the hybrid zone than in pure zones, 25% showed on significant differences, and 2% were most abundant on a pure host species. The average hybrid tree supported 53% more insect and fungal species, and relative abundances were, on average, 4 times greater on hybrids than on either eucalypt species growing in pure stands. Hybrids may act as refugia for rare species: 5 of 40 species were largely restricted to the hybrid zone. Also, 50% of the species coexisted only in the hybrid zone, making for mique species assemblages. Although hybrids support more species and greater abundances, all hybrids are not equal: 68% of the 40 taxa examined were significantly more abundant on one hybrid phenotype than another. While herbivore concentrations on F1 type intermediates were rare, concentrations were common on phenotypes resembling backcrosses either to E. amygdalina or E. risdonii. For specialist herbivores, the hybrid phenotype most heavily utilized appears to be determined by its phenotypic affinity to its host species. Generalists exhibit an overall greater abundance on hybrids, but are less likely to utilize one hybrid phenotype over another. Mechanistic explanations for these distributions are numerous and probably species specific, but are likely to include: increased genetic susceptibility of hybrids due to hybrid breakdown; increased stress in the hybrid zone resulting in greater plant susceptibility; and a greater diversity of resources in the hybrid zone which could support more species. Seed capsule production by hybrids and their parental species is negatively correlated with herbivory. However, it is difficult to determine whether herbivores cause this pattern as hybrids may have inherently lower sexual reproduction. Laws enacted to protect rare and endangered species do not include hybrids. We argue that a re-examination of our current "hybrid policy" is warranted. Plant hybrid zones are centers of plant evolution and speciation, sources of economically important plants and potential biocontrol agents, and, as our study suggests, also provide essential habitats for phytophagous communities.
RESUMEN
The goldenrod leaf beetle, Trirhabda canadensis, is known to respond to odors of host and non-host species in the laboratory. Here we report movements of T. canadensis in the field in response to volatile odors from monocultures and polycultures of host plants. Overall, beetles preferentially colonized plots with a higher density of host plants and lower diversity of allelochemicals, but under some wind conditions there were marked exceptions. At high windspeeds, they colonized whichever plot(s) was upwind. At low windspeeds, beetles colonized preferred plots even when they were not upwind. The data suggest that odor dispersion varies in a complex way with windspeed: at low windspeeds beetles received information from a wide are of vegetation and made choices while at high windspeeds information was available only from upwind plot(s).
RESUMEN
Substantial errors can be introduced to estimates of leaf resistance (r(l)) obtained from diffusion porometers unless precautions are taken to reduce the leaf-cup temperature difference (T(leaf) - T(cup)) to acceptable levels prior to measurement. When T(leaf) > T(cup), underestimation of leaf resistance occurs; the reverse applies when T(leaf) < T(cup).The effect is most pronounced under open-stomata conditions and declines as stomatal resistance increases. Under typical measurement conditions, T(leaf) - T(cup) values of the order of 1 C induce a reduction in the ratio of the apparent to true leaf resistance to about 0.8 when the leaf resistance is low (r(l) = 1-2 sec cm(-1)). When T(leaf) - T(cup) = 5 C, the ratio drops below 0.5. Under high leaf resistance conditions (r(l) = 10-50 sec cm(-1)) the comparable ratios are approximately 0.9 and 0.7, respectively.
RESUMEN
The responses of the goldenrod leaf beetleTrirhabda canadensis to host and nonhost volatile odors were tested in a Y-tube olfactometer in the laboratory. Beetles preferred host to nonhost odors and were sensitive to concentrations of host odor. Beetles distinguished between host and nonhost volatiles of only one of the two nonhostSolidago species; host volatiles were preferred to all nonhost volatiles at the family and order levels. In other words, all nonhosts above the genus level had similar effects on beetle responses. Although the odors of most nonhosts were neutral (i.e., neither attractive nor repellent) to the beetles as tested against air, this neutrality disappeared if the odors of two or more nonhosts were added to the host odor and beetles were given a choice between this mixture and pure host odor. Given this choice, they strongly preferred pure host odor, which suggests that diversity of odors per se is unattractive to the beetles. Beetles walked rather than flew to locate their hosts in the field, and their movements suggest that they used olfactory cues to locate hosts.