Host plant phenology, insect outbreaks and herbivore communities – The importance of timing

1. Climate change may alter the dynamics of outbreak species by changing the phenological synchrony between herbivores and their host plants. As host plant phenology has a genotypic component that may interact with climate, infestation levels among genotypes might change accordingly. When the outbreaking herbivore is active early in the season, its infestation levels may also leave a detectable imprint on herbivores colonizing the plant later in the season. 2. In this study, we first investigated how the spring phenology and genotype of Quercus robur influenced the density of the spring-active, outbreaking leaf miner Acrocercops brongniardellus. We then assessed how intraspecific density affected the performance of A. brongniardellus and how oak genotype and density of A. brongniardellus affected the insect herbivore community. 3. We found that Q. robur individuals of late spring phenology were more strongly infested by A. brongniardellus. Conspecific pupae on heavily infested oaks tend...