Decreased losses of woody plant foliage to insects in large urban areas are explained by bird predation
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61388971%3A_____%2F17%3A00479294" target="_blank" >RIV/61388971:_____/17:00479294 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13692" target="_blank" >http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13692</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13692" target="_blank" >10.1111/gcb.13692</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Decreased losses of woody plant foliage to insects in large urban areas are explained by bird predation
Original language description
Despite the increasing rate of urbanization, the consequences of this process on biotic interactions remain insufficiently studied. Our aims were to identify the general pattern of urbanization impact on background insect herbivory, to explore variations in this impact related to characteristics of both urban areas and insect-plant systems, and to uncover the factors governing urbanization impacts on insect herbivory. We compared the foliar damage inflicted on the most common trees by defoliating, leafmining and gall-forming insects in rural and urban habitats associated with 16 European cities. In two of these cities, we explored quality of birch foliage for herbivorous insects, mortality of leafmining insects due to predators and parasitoids and bird predation on artificial plasticine larvae. On average, the foliage losses to insects were 16.5% lower in urban than in rural habitats. The magnitude of the overall adverse effect of urbanization on herbivory was independent of the latitude of the locality and was similar in all 11 studied tree species, but increased with an increase in the size of the urban area: it was significant in large cities (city population 1-5 million) but not significant in medium-sized and small towns. Quality of birch foliage for herbivorous insects was slightly higher in urban habitats than in rural habitats. At the same time, leafminer mortality due to ants and birds and the bird attack intensity on dummy larvae were higher in large cities than in rural habitats, which at least partially explained the decline in insect herbivory observed in response to urbanization. Our findings underscore the importance of top-down forces in mediating impacts of urbanization on plant-feeding insects: factors favouring predators may override the positive effects of temperature elevation on insects and thus reduce plant damage.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10606 - Microbiology
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2017
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Global Change Biology
ISSN
1354-1013
e-ISSN
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Volume of the periodical
23
Issue of the periodical within the volume
10
Country of publishing house
US - UNITED STATES
Number of pages
11
Pages from-to
4354-4364
UT code for WoS article
000410642100032
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85029280777