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Insect herbivory on urban trees: Complementary effects of tree neighbours and predationuse asterix (*) to get italics
Alex Stemmelen, Alain Paquette, Marie-Lise Benot, Yasmine Kadiri, Hervé Jactel, Bastien CastagneyrolPlease use the format "First name initials family name" as in "Marie S. Curie, Niels H. D. Bohr, Albert Einstein, John R. R. Tolkien, Donna T. Strickland"
2020
<p>Insect herbivory is an important component of forest ecosystems functioning and can affect tree growth and survival. Tree diversity is known to influence insect herbivory in natural forest, with most studies reporting a decrease in herbivory with increasing tree diversity. Urban ecosystems, on the other hand, differ in many ways from the forest ecosystem and the drivers of insect herbivory in cities are still debated. We monitored 48 urban trees from five species − three native and two exotic − in three parks of Montreal (Canada) for leaf insect herbivory and predator activity on artificial larvae, and linked herbivory with both predation and tree diversity in the vicinity of focal trees. Leaf insect herbivory decreased with increasing tree diversity and with increasing predator attack rate. Our findings indicate that tree diversity is a key determinant of multitrophic interactions between trees, herbivores and predators in urban environments and that managing tree diversity could contribute to pest control in cities.</p>
https://doi.org/10.15454/R4NESAYou should fill this box only if you chose 'All or part of the results presented in this preprint are based on data'. URL must start with http:// or https://
You should fill this box only if you chose 'Scripts were used to obtain or analyze the results'. URL must start with http:// or https://
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Artificial prey, Insect herbivory, Tree diversity, Top-down control, Urban biodiversity
NonePlease indicate the methods that may require specialised expertise during the peer review process (use a comma to separate various required expertises).
Biodiversity, Biological control, Community ecology, Ecosystem functioning, Herbivory
No need for them to be recommenders of PCIEcology. Please do not suggest reviewers for whom there might be a conflict of interest. Reviewers are not allowed to review preprints written by close colleagues (with whom they have published in the last four years, with whom they have received joint funding in the last four years, or with whom they are currently writing a manuscript, or submitting a grant proposal), or by family members, friends, or anyone for whom bias might affect the nature of the review - see the code of conduct
e.g. John Doe [john@doe.com]
2020-04-20 13:49:36
Ruth Arabelle Hufbauer