Data from: Differential responses of herbivores and herbivory to management in temperate European beech

Forest management not only affects biodiversity but also might alter ecosystem processes mediated by the organisms, i.e. herbivory the removal of plant biomass by plant-eating insects and other arthropod groups. Aiming at revealing general relationships between forest management and herbivory we investigated aboveground arthropod herbivory in 105 plots dominated by European beech in three different regions in Germany in the sun-exposed canopy of mature beech trees and on beech saplings in the understorey. We separately assessed damage by different guilds of herbivores, i.e. chewing, sucking and scraping herbivores, gall-forming insects and mites, and leaf-mining insects. We asked whether herbivory differs among different forest management regimes (unmanaged, uneven-aged managed, even-aged managed) and among age-classes within even-aged forests. We further tested for consistency of relationships between regions, strata and herbivore guilds. On average, almost 80% of beech leaves showed herbivory damage, and about 6% of leaf area was consumed. Chewing damage was most common, whereas leaf sucking and scraping damage were very rare. Damage was generally greater in the canopy than in the understorey, in particular for chewing and scraping damage, and the occurrence of mines. There was little difference in herbivory among differently managed forests and the effects of management on damage differed among regions, strata and damage types. Covariates such as wood volume, tree density and plant diversity weakly influenced herbivory, and effects differed between herbivory types. We conclude that despite of the relatively low number of species attacking beech; arthropod herbivory on beech is generally high. We further conclude that responses of herbivory to forest management are multifaceted and environmental factors such as forest structure variables affecting in particular microclimatic conditions are more likely to explain the variability in herbivory among beech forest plots.

森林经营不仅会影响生物多样性，还可能改变由生物介导的生态系统过程，即植食作用（herbivory）——植食性昆虫及其他节肢动物类群移除植物生物量的过程。为揭示森林经营与植食作用之间的普遍关联，我们在德国三个不同区域的105个以欧洲山毛榉（European beech）为优势种的样地中，对成熟山毛榉向阳冠层以及林下层山毛榉幼树上的地上节肢动物植食作用展开了调查。我们分别评估了不同植食者功能群（guilds）造成的危害，包括咀嚼式、刺吸式和刮食式植食者、造瘿昆虫与螨类，以及潜叶昆虫。我们探究了植食作用在不同森林经营制度（未经营、异龄林经营、同龄林经营）之间，以及同龄林内不同龄级间是否存在差异。我们进一步检验了区域、林层以及植食者功能群之间的关联一致性。平均而言，近80%的山毛榉叶片存在植食危害，约6%的叶面积被取食消耗。其中咀嚼式危害最为普遍，而刺吸式与刮食式危害则极为罕见。总体而言，冠层的危害程度高于林下层，尤其在咀嚼式、刮食式危害以及潜叶危害的发生情况上表现明显。不同经营模式的森林间植食作用差异较小，且经营对危害的影响在区域、林层以及危害类型之间存在差异。木材蓄积量、树木密度与植物多样性等协变量对植食作用的影响较弱，且不同植食类型的影响模式存在差异。我们得出结论：尽管侵害山毛榉的节肢动物物种数量相对较少，但山毛榉上的节肢动物植食作用整体水平较高。我们进一步得出结论：植食作用对森林经营的响应是多维度的，而尤其影响微气候条件的森林结构变量等环境因素，更可能解释山毛榉林样地间植食作用的变异程度。