| Title: | Warming counteracts defoliation-induced mismatch by increasing herbivore-plant phenological synchrony |
| Author(s): | Ren P; Neron V; Rossi S; Liang E; Bouchard M; Deslauriers A; |
| Address: | "Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Departement des Sciences Fondamentales, Universite du Quebec a Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, QC, Canada. College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China. Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China. CAS Centre for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, China. Direction de la Recherche Forestiere, Ministere des Forets, de la Faune et des Parcs du Quebec, Quebec, QC, Canada" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1365-2486 (Electronic) 1354-1013 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Climate change is altering phenology; however, the magnitude of this change varies among taxa. Compared with phenological mismatch between plants and herbivores, synchronization due to climate has been less explored, despite its potential implications for trophic interactions. The earlier budburst induced by defoliation is a phenological strategy for plants against herbivores. Here, we tested whether warming can counteract defoliation-induced mismatch by increasing herbivore-plant phenological synchrony. We compared the larval phenology of spruce budworm and budburst in balsam fir, black spruce, and white spruce saplings subjected to defoliation in a controlled environment at temperatures of 12, 17, and 22 degrees C. Budburst in defoliated saplings occurred 6-24 days earlier than in the controls, thus mismatching needle development from larval feeding. This mismatch decreased to only 3-7 days, however, when temperatures warmed by 5 and 10 degrees C, leading to a resynchronization of the host with spruce budworm larvae. The increasing synchrony under warming counteracts the defoliation-induced mismatch, disrupting trophic interactions and energy flow between forest ecosystem and insect populations. Our results suggest that the predicted warming may improve food quality and provide better growth conditions for larval development, thus promoting longer or more intense insect outbreaks in the future" |
| Keywords: | Choristoneura fumiferana boreal forest budburst global warming outbreak phenology; |
| Notes: | "PublisherRen, Ping Neron, Valerie Rossi, Sergio Liang, Eryuan Bouchard, Mathieu Deslauriers, Annie eng Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks in Quebec (MFFP)/ Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada/ 41525001/National Natural Science Foundation of China/ 41807443/National Natural Science Foundation of China/ 201804910179/China Scholarship Council/ England 2020/01/12 Glob Chang Biol. 2020 Jan 10. doi: 10.1111/gcb.14991" |
