Tree diversity reduces pest damage in mature forests across Europe
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Hervé Jactel; Aude Vialatte; Marc Deconchat; Virginie Guyot; Bastien Castagneyrol
- Source
- Biology Letters
Biology Letters, Royal Society, The, 2016, 12 (4), pp.20151037. ⟨10.1098/rsbl.2015.1037⟩
Biology Letters 4 (12), 5 p.. (2016)
- Subject
- 0106 biological sciences
Associational resistance
Insecta
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
associational resistance
biodiversity
ecosystem functioning
Climate
[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes
Biodiversité et Ecologie
ravageur
Pest
fonctionnement des écosystèmes
Forests
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Trees
Latitude
Tree diversity
[SDV.SA.SF]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences/Silviculture, forestry
Sylviculture, foresterie
forêt
Animals
Herbivory
Forest
Milieux et Changements globaux
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Herbivore
Resistance (ecology)
Ecology
Agroforestry
Global change
Biodiversity
15. Life on land
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Europe
diversité des populations
Tree (data structure)
Community Ecology
Ecosystem functioning
PEST analysis
Species richness
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 1744-9561
International audience; Forest pest damage is expected to increase with global change. Tree diversity could mitigate this impact, but unambiguous demonstration of the diversity–resistance relationship is lacking in semi-natural mature forests. We used a network of 208 forest plots sampled along two orthogonal gradients of increasing tree species richness and latitudes to assess total tree defoliation in Europe. We found a positive relationship between tree species richness and resistance to insect herbivores: overall damage to broadleaved species significantly decreased with the number of tree species in mature forests. This pattern of associational resistance was frequently observed across tree species and countries, irrespective of their climate. These findings confirm the greater potential of mixed forests to face future biotic disturbances in a changing world.