Data from: Warming affects different components of plant-herbivore interaction in a simplified community but not net interaction strength

Global warming impacts natural communities through effects on performance
of individual species and through changes in the strength of interactions
between them. While there is a body of evidence of the former, we lack
experimental evidence on potential changes in interaction strengths.
Knowledge about multispecies interactions is fundamental to understand the
regulation of biodiversity and the impact of climate change on
communities. This study investigated the effect of warming on a simplified
community consisting of three species: rosy apple aphid Dysaphis
plantaginea feeding on plantain, Plantago lanceolata, and a heterospecific
neighbouring plant species, perennial ryegrass, Lolium perenne. The aphid
does not feed on L. perenne. The experimental design consisted of
monocultures and mixtures of L. perenne and P. lanceolata at three
temperature levels. We did not find indication for indirect temperature
effects on D. plantaginea through changes in leaf nitrogen or relative
water content. However, experimental warming affected the life history
traits of the aphid directly, in a non-linear manner. Aphids performed
best at moderate warming, where they grew faster and had a shorter
generation time. In spite of the increased population growth of the aphids
under warming, the herbivory rates were not changed and consequently the
plant–herbivore interaction was not altered under warming. This suggests
reduced consumption rates at higher temperature. Also plant competition
affected the aphids but through an interaction with temperature. We
provide proof-of-concept that net interactions between plants and
herbivores should not change under warming despite direct effects of
warming on herbivores when plant–plant interaction are considered. Our
study stresses the importance of indirect non–trophic interactions as an
additional layer of complexity to improve our understanding of how trophic
interactions will alter under climate change.