Insect Herbivory Above- and Belowground: Individual and Joint Effects on Plant Fitness

Understanding of the selective effects of insect herbivory on plants comes primarily from studies of herbivory aboveground. The impact of belowground herbivory, either in isolation or in concert with herbivory aboveground, on plant fitness is only beginning to be understood. I reduced the densities of root-boring ghost moth (Hepialus californicus) larvae and/or flower- and seed-feeding insects of bush lupine (Lupinus arboreus), a woody shrub, and followed fecundity and survival of plants for three years. In year one, suppression of aboveground herbivores increased mean seed output by 31%, but suppression of belowground herbivores had no significant effect on plant fecundity. In year two, suppression of aboveground herbivores increased mean seed production by 123%, and belowground herbivores again had no significant effect on plant fecundity. In year three, suppression of aboveground herbivores had little effect on lupine fecundity; plants protected from root borers, however, produced, on average, 85% more pods and 83% more seeds compared with unprotected plants. In each of the three years, there was no statistical interaction between herbivory above- and belowground; effects of individual herbivores on plant fitness were additive. Both modes of herbivory had significant cumulative effects on lupine fitness. Protection from chronic aboveground herbivory increased mean cumulative seed output over 3 yr by 78%; suppression of belowground herbivores increased mean cumulative seed production by 31%. Cumulative average mortality across all three years was 18% greater for plants exposed to root herbivory than for plants protected from root herbivory. Taken together, results show that both above- and belowground herbivores can potentially impose strong selection on bush lupine

Shell-Dropping Behavior of Western Gulls (Larus occidentalis)

Westem Gulls (Larus occidentalis) at Bodega Bay, California drop shelled prey items to break them. I presented Washington clams (Saxidomus nuttalli) of known weight to free-flying gulls to investigate factors affecting shell-dropping behavior. All adult gulls dropped clams, whereas only 55% of immature gulls did so. The other 45% of immature gulls that were given clams pecked at them on the ground instead. Gulls dropped clams on both hard and soft substrates. Flight distance and kleptoparasitism seemed important in influencing drop location. Adult Western Gulls dropped heavy clams from lower heights than they dropped light clams. Heavy clams, however, break less easily than light clams when dropped from the same height. Energetic constraints and/or kleptoparasitism could explain this apparent contradiction

Bush Lupine Mortality, Altered Resource Availability, and Alternative Vegetaion States

Nitrogen-fixing plants, by altering the availability of soil N, potentially facilitate plant invasion. Here we describe how herbivore-driven mortality of a native N-fixing shrub, bush lupine (Lupinus arboreus), increases soil N and light availability, which promotes invasion by introduced grasses to the detriment of a native plant community. Soils under live and dead lupine stands contained large amounts of total N, averaging 3.14 mg N/g dry mass of soil (398 g/m2) and 3.45 mg N/g dry mass of soil (438 g/m2), respectively, over four years. In contrast, similar lupine-free soil was low in N and averaged only 1.66 mg N/g dry mass of soil (211 g/m2) over three years. The addition of N fertilizer to lupine-free soil produced an 81% increase in aboveground plant biomass compared to plots unamended with N. Mean rates of net N mineralization were higher under live lupine and where mass die-off of lupine had occurred compared to soils free of bush lupine. At all sites, only 2.5–4.2% of the total soil N pool was mineralized annually. Soil enriched by lupine is not available to colonists while lupines are alive. The dense canopy of lupine shades soil under shrubs, reducing average photon-flux density in late spring from 1725 μmol·m−2·s−1 (full sunlight) to 13 μmol·m−2·s−1 (underneath shrubs). Stand die-off due to insect herbivory exposed this bare, enriched soil. In January, when annual plants are establishing, average photon-flux density under dead lupines killed by insect herbivores was 370 μmol·m−2·s−1, compared to the photon-flux density under live lupines of the same age, which averaged 83 μmol·m−2·s−1. The availability of bare, N-rich patches of soil enabled nonnative annuals (primarily Lolium multiflorum and Bromus diandrus) to colonize sites, grow rapidly, and dominate the plant assemblage until lupines reestablished after several years. The N content of these grasses was significantly greater than the N content of the mostly native plants that occupied adjacent coastal prairie devoid of bush lupine. Between 57 and 70% of the net amount of N mineralized annually was taken up by introduced grasses and subsequently returned to the soil upon the death of these annuals. Even in the absence of further N inputs, we estimate that it would take at least 25 yr to reduce the soil N pool by 50%, indicating that the reestablishment of the native prairie flora is likely to be long term

Effects of Native Species Diversity and Resource Additions on Invader Impact

Theory and empirical work have demonstrated that diverse communities can inhibit invasion. Yet, it is unclear how diversity influences invader impact, how impact varies among exotics, and what the relative importance of diversity is versus extrinsic factors that themselves can influence invasion. To address these issues, we established plant assemblages that varied in native species and functional richness and crossed this gradient in diversity with resource (water) addition. Identical assemblages were either uninvaded or invaded with one of three exotic forbs: spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa), dalmatian toadflax (Linaria dalmatica), or sulfur cinquefoil (Potentilla recta). To determine impacts, we measured the effects of exotics on native biomass and, for spotted knapweed, on soil moisture and nitrogen levels. Assemblages with high species richness were less invaded and less impacted than less diverse assemblages. Impact scaled with exotic biomass; spotted knapweed had the largest impact on native biomass compared with the other exotics. Although invasion depressed native biomass, the net result was to increase total community yield. Water addition increased invasibility (for knapweed only) but had no effect on invader impact. Together, these results suggest that diversity inhibits invasion and reduces impact more than resource additions facilitate invasion or impact

Restoring Enriched Grasslands: Effects of Mowing on Species Richness, Productivity, and Nitrogen Retention

Species-rich grasslands that become enriched with nitrogen often suffer decreases in species richness, increases in plant biomass, and invasion by weedy exotic species. Suitable techniques to restore enriched grasslands and reestablish native communities are increasingly needed. Here we report results of a 5-yr experiment in enriched coastal prairie grasslands (Bodega Marine Reserve, Bodega Bay, California, USA), to determine the combined effects of mowing and biomass removal on total soil nitrogen, net rates of mineralization, nitrogen retention, and species richness and biomass. We mowed and removed plant biomass from plots in areas where the N-fixing shrub, bush lupine (Lupinus arboreus), had greatly enriched the soil, and where the community was composed of weedy introduced plants. Our goal was to facilitate the establishment of the native grassland assemblage such as was found at nearby low soil nitrogen sites. Mowing and biomass removal resulted in a dramatic change in the species assemblage, from exotic annual grasses to a mixed exotic/native forb community composed primarily of perennials. Species richness was significantly greater in treated plots than in control plots; weedy exotic grasses diminished in abundance, and both native and exotic forb species increased. In mowed vs. control plots, there was significantly less mean aboveground biomass, but significantly greater belowground biomass. This shift in species composition had significant impacts on nitrogen retention. In late fall and winter when plant-available N was highest, much nitrogen leached from the effectively fallow control plots where germination of annual grasses did not peak until midwinter. In contrast, mowed plots retained substantially greater amounts of nitrogen, due to the presence of perennial plants possessing large amounts of belowground biomass early in the season. Despite the cumulative removal of 22 g N/m2 in biomass over 5 yr, there was no difference between mowed and control plots in total soil N, pool sizes of inorganic N, or net rates of N mineralization. The results indicate that removal of plant biomass by mowing shifted this plant community from an annual grass to a perennial forb assemblage. However, in doing so, N retention by vegetation was increased, making it more difficult to reduce soil N

Outcrossing Rate and Inbreeding Depression in the Perennial Yellow Bush Lupine, Lupinus arboreus (Fabaceae)

Little is known about the breeding systems of perennial Lupinus species. We provide information about the breeding system of the perennial yellow bush lupine, Lupinus arboreus, specifically determining self-compatibility, outcrossing rate, and level of inbreeding depression. Flowers are self-compatible, but autonomous self-fertilization rarely occurs; thus selfed seed are a product of facilitated selfing. Based on four isozyme loci from 34 maternal progeny arrays of seeds we estimated an outcrossing rate of 0.78. However, when we accounted for differential maturation of selfed seeds, the outcrossing rate at fertilization was lower, ∼0.64. Fitness and inbreeding depression of 11 selfed and outcrossed families were measured at four stages: seed maturation, seedling emergence, seedling survivorship, and growth at 12 wk. Cumulative inbreeding depression across all four life stages averaged 0.59, although variation existed between families for the magnitude of inbreeding depression. Inbreeding depression was not manifest uniformly across all four life stages. Outcrossed flowers produced twice as many seeds as selfed flowers, but the mean performance of selfed and outcrossed progeny was not different for emergence, seedling survivorship, and size at 12 wk. Counter to assumptions about this species, L. arboreus is both self-compatible and outcrosses ∼78% of the time

Native Plant Diversity Resists Invasion at both Low and High Resource Levels

Human modification of the environment is causing both loss of species and changes in resource availability. While studies have examined how species loss at the local level can influence invasion resistance, interactions between species loss and other components of environmental change remain poorly studied. In particular, the manner in which native diversity interacts with resource availability to influence invasion resistance is not well understood. We created experimental plant assemblages that varied in native species (1–16 species) and/or functional richness (defined by rooting morphology and phenology; one to five functional groups). We crossed these diversity treatments with resource (water) addition to determine their interactive effects on invasion resistance to spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa), a potent exotic invader in the intermountain West of the United States. We also determined how native diversity and resource addition influenced plant-available soil nitrogen, soil moisture, and light. Assemblages with lower species and functional diversity were more heavily invaded than assemblages with greater species and functional diversity. In uninvaded assemblages, experimental addition of water increased soil moisture and plant-available nitrogen and decreased light availability. The availability of these resources generally declined with increasing native plant diversity. Although water addition increased susceptibility to invasion, it did not fundamentally change the negative relationship between diversity and invasibility. Thus, native diversity provided strong invasion resistance even under high resource availability. These results suggest that the effects of local diversity can remain robust despite enhanced resource levels that are predicted under scenarios of global change

The Fitness Consequences of Interspecific Eavesdropping Between Plants

Although many ecologists have discounted the possibility of communication between plants, recent work demonstrates that wild tobacco plants with experimentally clipped sagebrush neighbors suffer less leaf herbivory than tobacco controls with unclipped neighbors. In this report, we examine the fitness consequences of resistance induced by eavesdropping. Annual tobacco plants with clipped sagebrush neighbors produced more flowers and seed-bearing capsules than plants with unclipped neighbors although these performance measures varied considerably over the five years of the study. Tobacco plants with clipped neighbors also suffered more frost damage than controls in one year. There was no indication that eavesdropping was more beneficial to tobacco in years with high risk of herbivore damage. The potential adaptive benefits of eavesdropping remain unclear based on five years of data. However, the fact that eavesdropping had strong effects on herbivory and plant performance suggests that interactions between plant species may be richer than we previously suspected

Loss of Enemy Resistance Among Introduced Populations of St. John\u27s Wort (Hypericum Perforatum)

The Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability (EICA) hypothesis predicts that introduced plants should lose enemy resistance and in turn evolve increased size or fecundity. We tested the first prediction of this hypothesis by growing introduced North American and native European genotypes of St. John\u27s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) in common gardens in the state of Washington, USA, and in Girona, Spain. In both gardens we measured levels of hypericin and pseudohypericin (and in Washington, hypericide)— compounds known to be toxic to generalist pathogens and herbivores. In a third common garden, in Spain, we experimentally manipulated native pathogen pressure (by treating plants with fungicides) and quantified how pathogen resistance varied between North American and European genotypes. North American St. John\u27s Wort had lower levels of hypericin than European conspecifics in common gardens in Washington and Spain. North American plants also produced less hypericide (in Washington) and pseudohypericin (in Spain) than did European plants. In Spain, individuals were attacked by three generalist pathogens: Colletotrichum sp. (Coelomycetes), Alternaria sp. (Hyphomycetes), and Fusarium oxysporum (Hyphomycetes). A higher percentage of individuals from North American populations were infected by pathogens and died from pathogen attack compared to European genotypes. Infection also appeared to reduce plant size and fecundity; these negative effects were similar in magnitude for North American and European genotypes. Taken together, results indicate that introduced St. John\u27s Wort has lost enemy resistance. However, contrary to EICA, current and previous results indicate that these changes have not been associated with an increase in plant size or fecundity