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Do multitrophic interactions override N fertilization effects on Operophtera larvae?

  • Plant Animal Interactions
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Abstract

We examined how performance of Operophtera brumata (Lepidoptera) larvae was affected by nitrogen (N) fertilization of boreal forest understorey vegetation. We monitored larval densities on Vaccinium myrtillus plants for a period of 7 years in a field experiment. Preliminary results indicated that the N effect on larval densities was weak. To examine if this was due to indirect interactions with a plant pathogen, Valdensia heterodoxa, that share the same host plant, or due to top-down effects of predation, we performed both a laboratory feeding experiment (individual level) and a bird exclusion experiment (population level) in the field. At the individual level, altered food plant quality (changes in plant concentration of carbon, N, phenolics, or condensed tannins) due to repeated infection by the pathogen had no effect on larval performance, but both survival to the adult stage and adult weight were positively affected by N fertilization. Exclusion of insectivorous birds increased the frequency of larval damage on V. myrtillus shoots, indicating higher larval densities. This effect was stronger in fertilized than in unfertilized plots, indicating higher bird predation in fertilized plots. Predation may thus explain the lack of fertilization effect on larval densities in the field experiment. Our results suggest that top-down effects are more important for larval densities than bottom-up effects, and that bird predation may play an important role in population regulation of O. brumata in boreal forests.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank The Svartberget Experimental Forest and its personnel for assistance with the annual fertilization of the experimental plots; Prof. Matt Ayres, Dr. Olli-Pekka Tikkanen, and two anonymous reviewer for valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper. This study was financially supported through grants from the ASTA program financially supported by MISTRA (Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research) (to LE and AN), by the Swedish Research Council (VR) (to LE), by FORMAS (Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning) (to AN and JW), and by the Gunnar & Ruth Björkman fod För Norrländsk Botanisk Forskning (to JS). The work presented in this paper conforms to the legal requirements of the country in which it was carried out, including those relating to conservation and welfare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden

    Joachim Strengbom & Lars Ericson

  2. Umeå Plant Science Center, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 90183, Umeå, Sweden

    Johanna Witzell & Annika Nordin

  3. Evolutionary Biology Centre, Department of Plant Ecology, Uppsala University, Villav. 14, 75236, Uppsala, Swedan

    Joachim Strengbom

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  1. Joachim Strengbom
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Correspondence to Joachim Strengbom.

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Strengbom, J., Witzell, J., Nordin, A. et al. Do multitrophic interactions override N fertilization effects on Operophtera larvae?. Oecologia 143, 241–250 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-004-1799-5

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