| Stadler, B; Solinger, St; Michalzik, B: Insect herbivores and the nutrient flow from the canopy to the soil in coniferous and deciduous forests, Oecologia, 126, 104-113 (2001) | |
| Abstract: Phytophagous insects can have severe impacts on forested ecosystems in outbreak situations but their contribution to flows of energy and matter is otherwise not so well known. Identifying the role of phytophagous insects in forested ecosystems is partly hindered by the difficulty of combining results from population and community ecology with those from ecosystem ecology. In our study we compared the effects of aphids and leaf feeding lepidopterous larvae on the epiphytic micro-organisms in the canopies of spruce, beech and oak and on the vertical flow of energy and nutrients from the canopies down to the forest floor. We particularly searched for patterns resulting from endemic herbivory rather than outbreak situations. Excreta of lepidopterous larvae and aphids promoted the growth of epiphytic micro-organisms (bacteria, yeasts, filamentous fungi) on needles and leaves which suggests that micro-organisms were energy limited. Leachates from needles and leaves of infested trees contained higher concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and lower concentrations of NH
|
