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How do soil nutrients affect within-plant patterns of herbivory in seedlings of Eucalyptus nitens?

  • Plant Animal Interactions
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Abstract

This study assessed how the palatability of leaves of different age classes (young, intermediate and older) of Eucalyptus nitens seedlings varied with plant nutrient status, based on captive feeding trials with two mammalian herbivores, red-bellied pademelons (Thylogale billardierii), and common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula). Seedlings were grown under three nutrient treatments (low, medium and high), and we determined how palatability was related to chemical and physical characteristics of the leaves. Pademelons ate more older leaves than young and intermediate leaves for all treatments. This pattern was best explained by sideroxylonals (formylated phloroglucinol compounds known to deter herbivory by other marsupials), and/or essential oil compounds that were present in lower concentrations in older leaves. In the low-nutrient treatment, possums also ate more of the older leaves. However, in the medium- and high-nutrient treatments, possums ate more intermediate leaves than older leaves and showed a behavioural preference for young leaves (consuming younger leaves first) over intermediate and older leaves, in spite of high levels of sideroxylonals and essential oils. The young leaves did, however, have the highest nitrogen concentration of all the leaf age classes. Thus, either sideroxylonals and essential oils provided little or no deterrent to possums, or the deterrent was outweighed by other factors such as high nitrogen. This study indicates that mammalian herbivores show different levels of relative use and damage to leaf age classes at varying levels of plant nutrient status and, therefore, their impact on plant fitness may vary with environment.

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Acknowledgments

Animals were caught and maintained under the University of Tasmania Animal Ethics Committee, Project No. A6655; and Parks and Wildlife Service Permit No. FA03102. We thank Ann Wilkinson and Hugh Fitzgerald for assistance with chemical analyses and two anonymous reviewers for making valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. The CRC for Forestry and ANZ Charitable Trust Australia (Holsworth Wildlife Research Fund) funded this research.

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Author notes

  1. Dugald C. Close

    Present address: Botanic Garden and Parks Authority, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, West Perth, 6005, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 12, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Prue E. Loney, Dugald C. Close & Gregory J. Jordan

  2. School of Plant Science, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, TAS , 7001, Australia

    Prue E. Loney & Gregory J. Jordan

  3. School of Zoology, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 5, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Prue E. Loney

  4. School of Biological Sciences, Heydon-Laurence Building (A08), The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Clare McArthur

  5. School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, PO Box 18, Clayton Campus, Clayton, VIC , 3800, Australia

    Gordon D. Sanson

  6. Central Science Laboratory, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 74, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Noel W. Davies

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  1. Prue E. Loney
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Correspondence to Clare McArthur.

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Communicated by Julia Koricheva.

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Loney, P.E., McArthur, C., Sanson, G.D. et al. How do soil nutrients affect within-plant patterns of herbivory in seedlings of Eucalyptus nitens?. Oecologia 150, 409–420 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0525-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0525-x

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