Leaf defenses of subtropical deciduous and evergreen trees to varying intensities of herbivory

Xiaoyu Liu; Carri J LeRoy; Guobing Wang; Yuan Guo; Shuwang Song; Zhipei Wang; Jingfang Wu; Fenggang Luan; Qingni Song; Xiong Fang; Qingpei Yang; Dongmei Huang; Jun Liu

doi:10.7717/peerj.16350

Leaf defenses of subtropical deciduous and evergreen trees to varying intensities of herbivory

PeerJ. 2023 Nov 7:11:e16350. doi: 10.7717/peerj.16350. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiaoyu Liu^{1

2}, Carri J LeRoy³, Guobing Wang⁴, Yuan Guo^{1

2}, Shuwang Song^{1

2}, Zhipei Wang^{1

2}, Jingfang Wu^{1

2}, Fenggang Luan², Qingni Song^{1

2}, Xiong Fang⁵, Qingpei Yang^{1

2}, Dongmei Huang⁶, Jun Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory for Bamboo Germplasm Resources and Utilization, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China.
² Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China.
³ Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA, USA.
⁴ Department of Scientific Research, Administration of Jiangxi Guanshan National Nature Reserve, Yichun, China.
⁵ College of Land Resources and Environment, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China.
⁶ School of Humanities and Public Administration, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China.

Abstract

Generally, deciduous and evergreen trees coexist in subtropical forests, and both types of leaves are attacked by numerous insect herbivores. However, trees respond and defend themselves from herbivores in different ways, and these responses may vary between evergreen and deciduous species. We examined both the percentage of leaf area removed by herbivores as well as the percentage of leaves attacked by herbivores to evaluate leaf herbivore damage across 14 subtropical deciduous and evergreen tree species, and quantified plant defenses to varying intensities of herbivory. We found that there was no significant difference in mean percentage of leaf area removed between deciduous and evergreen species, yet a higher mean percentage of deciduous leaves were damaged compared to evergreen leaves (73.7% versus 60.2%). Although percent leaf area removed was mainly influenced by hemicellulose concentrations, there was some evidence that the ratio of non-structural carbohydrates:lignin and the concentration of tannins contribute to herbivory. We also highlight that leaf defenses to varying intensities of herbivory varied greatly among subtropical plant species and there was a stronger response for deciduous trees to leaf herbivore (e.g., increased nitrogen or lignin) attack than that of evergreen trees. This work elucidates how leaves respond to varying intensities of herbivory, and explores some of the underlying relationships between leaf traits and herbivore attack in subtropical forests.

Keywords: Leaf herbivory; Leaf life spans; Leaf traits; Plant defense; Plant–herbivore interactions.

MeSH terms

Herbivory*
Lignin
Plant Leaves / physiology
Plants
Trees* / physiology

Substances

Lignin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42067050, 41807028, 32060319, 42267034); This research was supported by the Jiangxi Double Thousand Plan: jxsq2020101079; Graduate Innovation Fund of Jiangxi Province (YC2021-S361). Support for Carri LeRoy was provided by U.S. National Science Foundation grant DEB #1836387. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.