Present address: Department of Short Rotation Forestry, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7016, SE-750 16 Uppsala, Sweden.
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Long-term patterns of leaf, shoot and wood production after insect herbivory in the Mountain Birch
Article first published online: 11 DEC 2003
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2003.00792.x
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How to Cite
Karlsson, P. S. and Weih, M. (2003), Long-term patterns of leaf, shoot and wood production after insect herbivory in the Mountain Birch. Functional Ecology, 17: 841–850. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2003.00792.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 11 DEC 2003
- Article first published online: 11 DEC 2003
- Received 14 March 2003; revised 26 June 2003; accepted 31 July 2003
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Keywords:
- apical dominance;
- Betula pubescens;
- defoliation;
- Epirrita autumnata;
- leaf area;
- nitrogen;
- reproduction;
- shoot populations;
- tree rings
Summary
- 1The pattern of responses of adult trees of Mountain Birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) to an outbreak of a folivorous insect (Epirrita autumnata) causing ≈90% defoliation was studied over 8 years in a subarctic area in northern Sweden.
- 2Tree recovery was monitored in terms of the numbers, area, mass and nitrogen content of leaves, the numbers of leaf-carrying long and short shoots, and the widths of annual tree rings in stems.
- 3The most prominent characteristic of defoliated trees was a threefold increase in the proportion of long shoots 1 year after defoliation. These shoots subsequently produced many new leaf-carrying short shoots, resulting in shoot populations ≈50% larger than those of control trees. Thereafter the most strongly defoliated trees showed decreasing leaf area.
- 4Defoliated trees produced more female catkins but fewer male catkins than control trees.
- 5Released apical dominance did not result in any overcompensation in terms of growth or leaf area production. However, it presumably increased the rate of recovery from herbivory. For the most strongly defoliated trees, the benefits from increased production of long shoots was not sustainable.