Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Higher temperatures can increase metabolic rates and carbon demands of invertebrate herbivores, which may shift leaf-chewing herbivory among plant functional groups differing in C:N carbon:nitrogen ratios. Biotic factors influencing herbivore species richness may modulate these temperature effects.
Yet, systematic studies comparing leaf-chewing herbivory among plant functional groups in different habitats and landscapes along temperature gradients are lacking. This study was conducted on 80 plots covering large gradients of temperature, plant richness and land use in Bavaria, Germany.
As potential drivers, we considered local mean temperature range 8. We observed differential responses of leaf-chewing herbivory among plant functional groups in response to plant richness family level only and habitat type, but not to grassland proportion, landscape diversity and temperature—except for multi-annual mean temperature influencing herbivory on grassland plots. Three-way interactions of plant functional group, temperature and predictors of plant richness or land use did not substantially impact herbivory.
We conclude that abiotic and biotic factors can assert different effects on leaf-chewing herbivory among plant functional groups. At present, effects of plant richness and habitat type outweigh effects of temperature and landscape-scale land use on herbivory among legumes, forbs and grasses. Anthropogenic land use and climate change pose threats to biodiversity with consequences for ecosystem functioning Oliver et al.
An important ecosystem function, which facilitates energy flux from primary producers to higher trophic levels, is herbivory Cebrian and Lartigue ; Turcotte et al. In many ecosystems, insect herbivores are among the major contributors to herbivory and play a key role in food webs and nutrient cycles Schowalter Yet, large-scale experimental studies on individual and interactive effects of temperature, plant richness and land use factors on invertebrate herbivory are lacking, though important for identifying factors, which possibly buffer effects of higher temperatures on herbivory.
