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Variations in leaf traits and susceptibility to insect herbivory within a Salix miyabeana population under field conditions

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Abstract

Variations in leaf traits (toughness, total nitrogen and total phenolic concentrations) and susceptibility to herbivory in Salix miyabeana were studied among individual trees within a population under field conditions. Leaf quality clearly decreased as season progressed, i.e. increases in leaf toughness and total phenolics and decrease in leaf nitrogen. Seasonal pattern and extent of herbivore attack were similar between years. Significant correlation between leaf traits and susceptibility to herbivore attack was detected, while effects of sex and plant size on leaf traits and herbivory were less clear. There was a negative correlation between total nitrogen and total phenolics, and a positive correlation between leaf toughness and total phenolics among trees. Trees with high quality leaves tended to suffer from frequent herbivore attack and leaf damage. Such a clear relationship between leaf traits and susceptibility to herbivory may be related with a life-history strategy of willows, which are rapid-growing pioneer species and generally respond to herbivorous damage not by induced resistance but by compensative growth.

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  1. Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0810, Japan

    Gaku Kudo

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Kudo, G. Variations in leaf traits and susceptibility to insect herbivory within a Salix miyabeana population under field conditions. Plant Ecology 169, 61–69 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026209017627

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