Link between defoliation and light treatments on root vitality of five understory shrubs with different resistance to insect herbivory

Tree Physiology
Piotr KarolewskiJacek Oleksyn

Abstract

Understory shrubs are frequently attacked by insect herbivores. However, very little is known regarding possible interactions between light condition, defoliation (D) and fine root vitality (% live roots) and metabolic activity, and whether different plant strategies (compensation, trade-off and equilibrium) to defoliation depend on individual species light requirements. To explore the response of roots to such conditions, an experiment was established in which we experimentally removed 50% of leaves in 1-year-old seedlings of Sambucus nigra, Cornus sanguinea, Prunus serotina, Frangula alnus and Corylus avellana grown in 15% and full sunlight. On average, defoliation leads to a 15% reduction in fine root (< 2 mm) vitality (% live roots). However, a statistically significant reduction in root vitality after defoliation was detected only in those species that are less herbivorized in nature (48% in S. nigra and 5% in C. sanguinea). On average, shade conditions (L) resulted in 18% decline in root vitality, and the effects of defoliation were also 22% higher than for plants grown in full light. Root vitality in both treatments (D and L) was significantly correlated with their dry mass, concentration of total phenol (TPh) and carbon...Continue Reading

References

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