Abstract
Simply visiting and manipulating plants in a way consistent with measurement in typical ecological studies influences the amount of leaf herbivory experienced by some plant species. We examined the mechanistic basis for why Apocynum cannabinum is particularly responsive to such visitation and manipulation. In a field experiment, we manipulated both visitation and shading by neighboring plants and measured the resultant changes in plant chemistry, growth, and herbivory. In a greenhouse experiment, we manipulated touch and wind exposure while holding light constant, allowing us to directly test whether the handling causes changes in the plant that might also occur in response to wind exposure. Visitation and neighbor tie back both increased herbivory, shoot biomass, and cardenolide concentration. These changes appear to be mediated by changes in light environment with each treatment. Leaf N and C were also highly responsive to visitation, neighbor tie back, and touch. The strong and similar responses to visitation and neighbor tie back suggest that in this species, visitation acts by reducing aboveground competition through trampling of neighbors; that growth, plant chemistry, and herbivory are extremely sensitive to visitation effects associated with basic ecological measurement; and that competition between plants for light can influence plant‐insect interactions. Of even greater importance is the identification that some species are extremely sensitive to even minor changes to their local environment. Such sensitivity may have significant implications for growth in natural communities.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Visitation increased herbivory.
- Taxon
- Apocynum cannabinum
Apocynum cannabinumt0 - Treatment
- Visitatione0
- Outcome
- herbivorye0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Visitation and neighbor tie back both increased herbivory, shoot biomass, and cardenolide concentration.”
t0“Apocynum cannabinum”
Claim · model-written summary
Visitation increased shoot biomass.
- Taxon
- Apocynum cannabinumApocynum cannabinumt0
- Treatment
- Visitatione0
- Outcome
- shoot biomasse0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Visitation and neighbor tie back both increased herbivory, shoot biomass, and cardenolide concentration.”
t0“Apocynum cannabinum”
Claim · model-written summary
Visitation increased cardenolide concentration.
- Taxon
- Apocynum cannabinumApocynum cannabinumt0
- Treatment
- Visitatione0
- Outcome
- cardenolide concentratione0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Visitation and neighbor tie back both increased herbivory, shoot biomass, and cardenolide concentration.”
t0“Apocynum cannabinum”
Claim · model-written summary
Neighbor tie back increased herbivory.
- Taxon
- Apocynum cannabinumApocynum cannabinumt0
- Treatment
- neighbor tie backe0
- Outcome
- herbivorye0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Visitation and neighbor tie back both increased herbivory, shoot biomass, and cardenolide concentration.”
t0“Apocynum cannabinum”
Claim · model-written summary
Neighbor tie back increased shoot biomass.
- Taxon
- Apocynum cannabinumApocynum cannabinumt0
- Treatment
- neighbor tie backe0
- Outcome
- shoot biomasse0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Visitation and neighbor tie back both increased herbivory, shoot biomass, and cardenolide concentration.”
t0“Apocynum cannabinum”
Claim · model-written summary
Neighbor tie back increased cardenolide concentration.
- Taxon
- Apocynum cannabinumApocynum cannabinumt0
- Treatment
- neighbor tie backe0
- Outcome
- cardenolide concentratione0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Visitation and neighbor tie back both increased herbivory, shoot biomass, and cardenolide concentration.”
t0“Apocynum cannabinum”
Claim · model-written summary
Leaf nitrogen and carbon responded strongly to visitation, neighbor tie back and touch.
- Taxon
- Apocynum cannabinumApocynum cannabinumt0
- Outcome
- Leaf N and Ce0
- Qualifier
- visitation, neighbor tie back, and touche0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Leaf N and C were also highly responsive to visitation, neighbor tie back, and touch.”
t0“Apocynum cannabinum”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors attribute the changes to the light environment.
- Taxon
- Apocynum cannabinumApocynum cannabinumt0
- Outcome
- These changese0
- Qualifier
- changes in light environmente0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“These changes appear to be mediated by changes in light environment with each treatment.”
t0“Apocynum cannabinum”