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The effect of experimental warming on insect herbivory in an alpine plant community

Hasle, Toril Elisabet
Master thesis
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URI
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/187019
Date
2013-08-23
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  • Master's theses (INA) [593]
Abstract
Climate warming is predicted to affect species and trophic interactions worldwide, and alpine

ecosystems are expected to be especially sensitive to changes. There are few studies on how

insect herbivory respond to warming. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine if

experimental warming had an effect on herbivory by leaf-chewing insects in an alpine plant

community. To manipulate the climate I used open-top chambers (OTCs) from an ongoing

long-term experiment at Finse, Norway. By recording feeding damages on the vascular plants

in the OTCs and in control plots, I found that warming increased the herbivory pressure on

Dryas octopetala, but not on Bistorta vivipara and Salix reticulata. The increase was

significant both in early and late season. Species-specific responses suggest that warming

might have caused changes in herbivore activity or plant quality. A feeding preference

experiment with the larvae of the moth Zygaena exulans, a common herbivore at the study

site, showed a strong dislike for Saussurea alpina. However, no significant difference

between the preference for D. octopetala, B. vivipara, S. reticulata, and S. herbacea was

found. There was little consistence between the feeding experiment and the field registrations.

This discrepancy might be caused by the presence of additional insect herbivore species in the

field or the fact that the feeding experiment was based on an introductory no-choice test. Even

with the limitations in using OTCs for herbivory research, the present study indicates that

some species, such as D. octopetala, will be more susceptible to insect herbivory than others

when temperatures increase. Although the impact of increased herbivory on plant

performance has not been assessed in this study, the increase in damages on D. octopetala

suggests that it is important to take insect herbivory into consideration when predicting

changes in alpine plant communities due to climate warming.
Publisher
Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås

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