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Additive and non-additive effects of simulated leaf and inflorescence damage on survival, growth and reproduction of the perennial herb Arabidopsis lyrata

  • Plant-animal interactions - Original research
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Abstract

Herbivores may damage both leaves and reproductive structures, and although such combined damage may affect plant fitness non-additively, this has received little attention. We conducted a 2-year field experiment with a factorial design to examine the effects of simulated leaf (0, 12.5, 25, or 50% of leaf area removed) and inflorescence damage (0 vs. 50% of inflorescences removed) on survival, growth and reproduction in the perennial herb Arabidopsis lyrata. Leaf and inflorescence damage negatively and independently reduced flower, fruit and seed production in the year of damage; leaf damage also reduced rosette size by the end of the first season and flower production in the second year. Leaf damage alone reduced the proportion of flowers forming a fruit and fruit production per plant the second year, but when combined with inflorescence damage no such effect was observed (significant leaf × inflorescence damage interaction). Damage to leaves (sources) caused a greater reduction in future reproduction than did simultaneous damage to leaves and inflorescences (sinks). This demonstrates that a full understanding of the effects of herbivore damage on plant fitness requires that consequences of damage to vegetative and reproductive structures are evaluated over more than 1 year and that non-additive effects are considered.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Richard Karban and Mikaela Huntzinger for helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript, and Julia Koricheva and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the latest version. The study was financially supported by grants from the Helge Axelssons Johnsons Stiftelse, Tullbergs Stiftelse and Bertil Lundmans Fund to A.P. and from Formas and the Swedish Research Council to J.Å.

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  1. Department of Plant Ecology and Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    Adriana Puentes & Jon Ågren

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  1. Adriana Puentes
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  2. Jon Ågren
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Correspondence to Adriana Puentes.

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Communicated by Julia Koricheva.

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Puentes, A., Ågren, J. Additive and non-additive effects of simulated leaf and inflorescence damage on survival, growth and reproduction of the perennial herb Arabidopsis lyrata . Oecologia 169, 1033–1042 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2276-1

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