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Do artificial and natural defoliation have similar effects on physiology of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. seedlings?

Les défoliations artificielle et naturelle ont-elles des effets similaires sur la physiologie de jeune plants d’Eucalyptus globulus Labill.?

Annals of Forest Science volume 67, page 203 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

  • • Artificial defoliation is often used to simulate defoliation by herbivory and is usually considered a good indication of a plant’s response to a given type of damage. However, the findings of studies directly comparing the two defoliation types are inconsistent.

  • • Here, the short term effects of artificial and insect defoliation by larvae of Paropsisterna agricola on growth, biomass allocation and photosynthetic capacity of Eucalyptus globulus seedlings were compared in a glasshouse experiment. The artificial defoliation was carried out to closely resemble the spatial patterns observed for insect defoliation.

  • • Height and diameter increments were reduced as a result of insect defoliation, whereas artificial defoliation had no significant effect on height. Increased photosynthetic capacity was observed in response to both treatments, but the magnitude of this increase was larger in insect-than in artificially-defoliated seedlings. Significant reductions in foliar carbohydrate content and total biomass were noticeable in artificially-defoliated seedlings. Although the foliar carbohydrate levels also decreased across the crown zones following insect defoliation treatment, seedlings allocated a large amount of their biomass in the branches of the damaged zone.

  • • Despite our best endeavours to simulate insect defoliation in the artificial treatment, the latter may not reflect accurately the full strength of the effects. However, artificial and insect defoliation were similar in their direction of the responses they caused in E. globulus seedlings.

Résumé

  • • La défoliation artificielle est couramment employée pour simuler la défoliation par les insectes herbivores et elle est généralement considérée comme un bon indicateur de la réponse des plantes pour un type de dommage donné. Cependant, les résultats d’études comparant directement les deux types de défoliation sont inconsistants.

  • • Ici, les effets court terme des défoliations artificielles et naturelles par la larve de Paropsisterna agricola ont été comparés au plan de la croissance, de l’allocation de la biomasse et de la capacité de photosynthèse dans une expérimentation conduite en serre. La défoliation artificielle a été menée pour ressembler étroitement aux modèles spatiaux observés avec la défoliation par les insectes.

  • • À la suite de la défoliation par les insectes, les accroissements en hauteur et en diamètre ont été réduits, alors que la défoliation artificielle n’a eu aucun effet significatif sur la hauteur. L’augmentation de la capacité de photosynthèse a été observée en réponses aux deux traitements, mais l’ampleur de cette augmentation a été plus forte pour les plants défoliés par les insectes que pour les plants artificiellement défoliés. Des réductions significatives de la teneur foliaire en glucides et de la biomasse totale ont été notées chez les plants artificiellement défoliés. Malgré la réduction générale de la teneur en glucides à la suite de la défoliation par les insectes, les jeunes plants assignèrent une importante partie de la biomasse aux branches de la zone endommagée.

  • • Malgré nos meilleures tentatives pour simuler la défoliation par les insectes dans le traitement artificiel, ce dernier ne reflète pas avec exactitude toute l’ampleur de l’impact engendré. Cependant, les défoliations artificielles et naturelles ont entraîné chez les jeunes plants d’E. globulus des réponses qui allaient dans le même sens.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Audrey G. Quentin, Elizabeth A. Pinkard, Christopher L. Beadle, Anthony P. O’Grady, Stephen Paterson & Caroline L. Mohammed

  2. School of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 54, 7001, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Audrey G. Quentin, Elizabeth A. Pinkard, Christopher L. Beadle & Caroline L. Mohammed

  3. CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Private Bag 12, 7001, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Elizabeth A. Pinkard, Christopher L. Beadle & Caroline L. Mohammed

  4. Forestry Tasmania, 79 Melville St., 7000, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Timothy J. Wardlaw

  5. Plant Science, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 54, 7001, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Anthony P. O’Grady & Stephen Paterson

Authors
  1. Audrey G. Quentin
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  2. Elizabeth A. Pinkard
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  3. Christopher L. Beadle
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  4. Timothy J. Wardlaw
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  5. Anthony P. O’Grady
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  6. Stephen Paterson
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  7. Caroline L. Mohammed
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Correspondence to Audrey G. Quentin.

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Quentin, A.G., Pinkard, E.A., Beadle, C.L. et al. Do artificial and natural defoliation have similar effects on physiology of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. seedlings?. Ann. For. Sci. 67, 203 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1051/forest/2009096

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Annals of Forest Science

ISSN: 1297-966X