Research ArticleUrbanization is an important driver of the diversity and abundance of tree-associated
insect herbivores, but its consequences for insect herbivory are poorly understood.
A likely source of variability among studies is the insufficient consideration of intra-urban
variability in forest cover. With the help of citizen scientists, we investigated the
independent and interactive effects of local canopy cover and percentage of impervious
surface on insect herbivory in the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) throughout
most of its geographic range in Europe. We found that the damage caused by chewing
insect herbivores as well as the incidence of leaf-mining
and gall-inducing
herbivores
consistently decreased with increasing impervious surface around focal oaks.
Herbivory by chewing herbivores increased with increasing forest cover, regardless
of impervious surface. In contrast, an increase in local canopy cover buffered the
negative effect of impervious surface on leaf miners and strengthened its effect on
gall inducers. These results show that—just
like in non-urban
areas—plant–
herbivore
interactions in cities are structured by a complex set of interacting factors. This highlights
that local habitat characteristics within cities have the potential to attenuate or
modify the effect of impervious surfaces on biotic interactionsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
