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Combined Stresses in Plants pp 245–259Cite as

The Interactive Effects of Drought and Herbivory on Ecophysiology of Trees

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Abstract

Independently, either drought or herbivory can have severe, negative impacts on growth, physiology, and survival of trees. When these two stressors occur simultaneously, their cumulative impact on tree performance is often assumed to be synergistic, i.e., greater than expected based on simple additive effects from either stressor alone. There are thousands of published studies on the effects of drought or herbivory, yet very few have tested the assumptions of their combined impacts on tree performance. Drought affects several physiological processes that reduce carbon assimilation, while herbivory elicits a number of carbon-expensive defense mechanisms. Given that both drought events and herbivory (e.g., insect outbreaks) are expected to occur with increased frequency and intensity with climate change, research on the effects from these combined stressors on tree performance is critical for predicting future forest health and productivity. In a study that did consider both stressors, the overall combined impacts were, contrary to assumptions, antagonistic because the effect of drought stress dominated tree growth and physiology, thus outweighing the effects from herbivory. Nevertheless, synergistic effects were observed on some plant traits when the relative intensities of each stressor were considered. Consequently, the impacts from combined drought and herbivory were trait-specific, intensity-dependent, and unpredictable from the effects of single stressors.

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  1. USDA-Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 3625 93rd Avenue SW, 98512, Olympia, WA, USA

    Sheel Bansal

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  1. and Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University Department of Biochemistry, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA

    Ramamurthy Mahalingam

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Bansal, S. (2015). The Interactive Effects of Drought and Herbivory on Ecophysiology of Trees. In: Mahalingam, R. (eds) Combined Stresses in Plants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07899-1_12

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