Abstract
Damage to leaves by herbivores can have a significant and extensive impact on growth and reproduction of plants (Marquis, 1984, 1992a, b; Marquis & Braker, 1993), which in turn can influence competitive outcomes and community composition (Janzen, 1970; Dirzo, 1984; Clark & Clark, 1985; Dirzo & Miranda, 1991). In tropical forests, approximately 11% of the annual leaf area produced is consumed by herbivores and pathogens (Coley & Aide, 1991), a resource loss equivalent to investments in reproduction (Bazzaz et al., 1987). This loss would be substantially higher except for the fact that plants allocate considerable resources to physical, chemical, and phenological defenses. Most of our understanding of the costs and benefits of defenses and of the interplay between defenses and herbivores is based on research on mature leaves. However, young expanding leaves are the most vulnerable stage during the life of a leaf. In tropical shade-tolerant species of plants, expanding leaves suffer 5–100 times the rates of damage from pathogens and herbivores as mature leaves (Coley & Aide, 1991). Seventy percent of the lifetime damage can occur during this small window of vulnerability. Many leaf developmental traits may therefore be the result of selection by herbivores and pathogens.
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Coley, P.D., Kursor, T.A. (1996). Anti-Herbivore Defenses of Young Tropical Leaves: Physiological Constraints and Ecological Trade-offs. In: Mulkey, S.S., Chazdon, R.L., Smith, A.P. (eds) Tropical Forest Plant Ecophysiology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1163-8_11
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