British Trees and Insects: The Role of Palatability. Wratten, S. D., Goddard, P., & Edwards, P. J. 118(6):916–919.
British Trees and Insects: The Role of Palatability [link]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
[Excerpt] The wide variation in the number of species of insect herbivores associated with different plant species has been shown to be a result of, among other things, the following: the plant's cumulative ancient abundance (Southwood 1961); its geographical range (Strong 1974; Levin 1976; Lawton and Schroder 1977); the length of time that the plant has been available for colonization (Birks 1980); its taxonomic isolation (Lawton and Schriider 1977); successional status (Cates and Orians 1975); growth form (Maiorana 1978; Scriber 1978); and structural complexity (Price 1977; Lawton and Price 1979). Plant attributes such as cumulative ancient abundance, successional status, geographical range, etc., may be regarded as components of "apparency" as defined by Feeny (1976). Plants which are apparent in time, space, or some other way would, by definition, be more vulnerable to insect attack than would unapparent plants. They would be expected to be the hosts of a larger number of herbivores since more evolutionary encounters between potential grazers and the plant will have occurred, increasing the frequency with which the plant's chemical and physical defenses will be overcome by initially naive herbivores. A seminal paper in which the number of herbivore species on British trees was shown to be positively related to the trees' cumulative ancient abundance (based on pollen records) was that of Southwood (1961). This regression relationship was significant (P $<$ .001) and 72\,% of the variation was explained by the independent variable. Factors invoked by Southwood as possible contributors to the residual variation, but by implication, not to the trend itself, were: taxonomic isolation, current abundance, and inherent differences in palatability between the trees, a tree with a higher than expected herbivore complement possibly being of high palatability. In this communication we examine the latter possibility. To test it, wholly green leaves from the following pairs of tree species were collected in mid-October 1979 and in June-July 1980: oak (Quercus robur)/birch (Betula pubescens); hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)/ash (Fraxinus excelsior); willow (Salix cinerea)/hazel (Corylus avellana); apple (Malus sylvestris)/mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia); apple (Malus sylvestris)/lime (Tilia x vulgaris). The species in a pair were selected because of their very similar cumulative ancient abundances according to Godwin's (1975) data, but very dissimilar numbers of herbivore species they sup-ported. The first-mentioned species in each pair always bore more herbivores than expected while the second fell on or below Southwood's regression line. [...]
@article{wrattenBritishTreesInsects1981,
  title = {British {{Trees}} and {{Insects}}: {{The Role}} of {{Palatability}}},
  author = {Wratten, S. D. and Goddard, P. and Edwards, P. J.},
  date = {1981},
  journaltitle = {The American Naturalist},
  volume = {118},
  pages = {916--919},
  url = {http://mfkp.org/INRMM/article/13627732},
  abstract = {[Excerpt] The wide variation in the number of species of insect herbivores associated with different plant species has been shown to be a result of, among other things, the following: the plant's cumulative ancient abundance (Southwood 1961); its geographical range (Strong 1974; Levin 1976; Lawton and Schroder 1977); the length of time that the plant has been available for colonization (Birks 1980); its taxonomic isolation (Lawton and Schriider 1977); successional status (Cates and Orians 1975); growth form (Maiorana 1978; Scriber 1978); and structural complexity (Price 1977; Lawton and Price 1979). Plant attributes such as cumulative ancient abundance, successional status, geographical range, etc., may be regarded as components of "apparency" as defined by Feeny (1976). Plants which are apparent in time, space, or some other way would, by definition, be more vulnerable to insect attack than would unapparent plants. They would be expected to be the hosts of a larger number of herbivores since more evolutionary encounters between potential grazers and the plant will have occurred, increasing the frequency with which the plant's chemical and physical defenses will be overcome by initially naive herbivores. A seminal paper in which the number of herbivore species on British trees was shown to be positively related to the trees' cumulative ancient abundance (based on pollen records) was that of Southwood (1961). This regression relationship was significant (P {$<$} .001) and 72\,\% of the variation was explained by the independent variable. Factors invoked by Southwood as possible contributors to the residual variation, but by implication, not to the trend itself, were: taxonomic isolation, current abundance, and inherent differences in palatability between the trees, a tree with a higher than expected herbivore complement possibly being of high palatability. In this communication we examine the latter possibility. To test it, wholly green leaves from the following pairs of tree species were collected in mid-October 1979 and in June-July 1980: oak (Quercus robur)/birch (Betula pubescens); hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)/ash (Fraxinus excelsior); willow (Salix cinerea)/hazel (Corylus avellana); apple (Malus sylvestris)/mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia); apple (Malus sylvestris)/lime (Tilia x vulgaris). The species in a pair were selected because of their very similar cumulative ancient abundances according to Godwin's (1975) data, but very dissimilar numbers of herbivore species they sup-ported. The first-mentioned species in each pair always bore more herbivores than expected while the second fell on or below Southwood's regression line. [...]},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-13627732,~to-add-stable-URL,betula-pubescens,corylus-avellana,crataegus-monogyna,forest-resources,fraxinus-excelsior,malus-sylvestris,plant-pests,quercus-robur,salix-cinerea,sorbus-aucuparia,tilia-spp,united-kingdom},
  number = {6}
}

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