1. //
  2. Start
  3. //
  4. Publications
  5. //
  6. The tree growth–herbivory relationship d...
  7. //

The tree growth–herbivory relationship depends on functional traits across forest biodiversity experiments

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Authors

  • Yi Li
  • Andreas Schuldt
  • Jürgen Bauhus
  • Michaël Belluau
  • Sylvie Berthelot
  • Karin T. Burghardt
  • Helge Bruelheide
  • Bastien Castagneyrol
  • Chengjin Chu
  • Nico Eisenhauer
  • Olga Ferlian
  • Jochen Fründ
  • Tobias Gebauer
  • Dominique Gravel
  • Hervé Jactel
  • Shan Li
  • Yu Liang
  • John D. Parker
  • William C. Parker
  • Michael Scherer-Lorenzen
  • Kris Verheyen
  • Bernhard Schmid
  • Keping Ma
  • Xiaojuan Liu

While studies have demonstrated that higher tree species richness can increase forest productivity, the relationships between tree species richness, tree growth and herbivore damage remain insufficiently explored. Here we investigate these linkages using data from 8,790 trees across 80 species in 9 biodiversity experiments, spanning temperate and subtropical biomes. Despite considerable geographic variation, we reveal an overall positive relationship between tree species richness and insect herbivory, as well as between tree growth and herbivory, at individual, species and community levels. The tree growth–herbivory relationship is further influenced by leaf functional traits. In particular, we show that tree species with a higher carbon to nitrogen ratio and, to a lesser extent, tougher leaves, experienced higher herbivory when their growth rate increased. The associations between tree growth and herbivory are further modulated by climatic and soil variation among the sites. Our study highlights the role of functional traits in shaping the relationship between tree growth and herbivory, supporting the resource availability and plant vigour hypotheses.

Original languageEnglish
JournalNature Ecology and Evolution
Volume9
Issue number11
Pages (from-to)2014-2024
Number of pages11
ISSN2397-334X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11.2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2025.

Related by journal

Arthropod species loss underpins biomass declines

Wildermuth, B., Bröcher, M., Ladouceur, E., Meyer, S. T., Schielzeth, H., Staab, M., Achury, R., Blüthgen, N., Hertzog, L., Hines, J., Roscher, C., Schweiger, O., Weisser, W. W. & Ebeling, A., 01.2026, In: Nature Ecology & Evolution. 10, 1, p. 83-94 12 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Author Correction: Widening global variability in grassland biomass since the 1980s

MacDougall, A. S., Esch, E., Chen, Q., Carroll, O., Bonner, C., Ohlert, T., Siewert, M., Sulik, J., Schweiger, A. K., Borer, E. T., Naidu, D., Bagchi, S., Hautier, Y., Wilfahrt, P., Larson, K., Olofsson, J., Cleland, E., Muthukrishnan, R., O’Halloran, L., Alberti, J., Anderson, T. M., Arnillas, C. A., Bakker, J. D., Barrio, I. C., Biederman, L., Boughton, E. H., Brudvig, L. A., Bruschetti, M., Buckley, Y., Bugalho, M. N., Cadotte, M. W., Caldeira, M. C., Catford, J. A., D’Antonio, C., Davies, K., Daleo, P., Dickman, C. R., Donohue, I., DuPre, M. E., Elgersma, K., Eisenhauer, N., Eskelinen, A., Estrada, C., Fay, P. A., Feng, Y., Gruner, D. S., Hagenah, N., Haider, S., Harpole, W. S., Hersch-Green, E., Jentsch, A., Kirkman, K., Knops, J. M. H., Laanisto, L., Lannes, L. S., Laungani, R., Lkhagva, A., Macek, P., Martina, J. P., McCulley, R. L., Melbourne, B., Mitchell, R., Moore, J. L., Morgan, J. W., Muraina, T. O., Niu, Y., Pärtel, M., Peri, P. L., Power, S. A., Price, J. N., Prober, S. M., Ren, Z., Risch, A. C., Smith, N. G., Sonnier, G., Standish, R. J., Stevens, C. J., Tedder, M., Tognetti, P., Veen, G. F., Virtanen, R., Wardle, G. M., Waring, E., Wolf, A. A., Yahdjian, L. & Seabloom, E. W., 01.10.2024, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 8, 10, p. 2003 1 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Other (editorial matter etc.) › Research

Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities

Author Collaboration of "Global decoupling of functional and phylogenetic diversity in plant communities", Hähn, G. J. A., Damasceno, G., Alvarez-Davila, E., Aubin, I., Bauters, M., Bergmeier, E. & Haider, S., 02.2025, In: Nature Ecology & Evolution. 9, 2, p. 237-248 12 p., e12976.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Plant diversity enhances ecosystem multifunctionality via multitrophic diversity

Li, Y., Schuldt, A., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Huang, Y., Albert, G., Albracht, C., Amyntas, A., Bonkowski, M., Bruelheide, H., Bröcher, M., Chesters, D., Chen, J., Chen, Y., Chen, J. T., Ciobanu, M., Deng, X., Fornoff, F., Gleixner, G., Guo, L., Guo, P. F., Heintz-Buschart, A., Klein, A. M., Lange, M., Li, S., Li, Q., Li, Y., Luo, A., Meyer, S. T., von Oheimb, G., Rutten, G., Scholten, T., Solbach, M. D., Staab, M., Wang, M. Q., Zhang, N., Zhu, C. D., Schmid, B., Ma, K. & Liu, X., 11.2024, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 8, 11, p. 2037-2047 11 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Widening global variability in grassland biomass since the 1980s

MacDougall, A. S., Esch, E., Chen, Q., Carroll, O., Bonner, C., Ohlert, T., Siewert, M., Sulik, J., Schweiger, A., Borer, E. T., Naidu, D., Bagchi, S., Hautier, Y., Wilfahrt, P., Larson, K., Olofsson, J., Cleland, E., Muthukrishnan, R., O’Halloran, L., Alberti, J., Anderson, T. M., Arnillas, C. A., Bakker, J. D., Barrio, I. C., Biederman, L., Boughton, E. H., Brudvig, L. A., Bruschetti, M., Buckley, Y., Bugalho, M. N., Cadotte, M. W., Caldeira, M. C., Catford, J. A., D’Antonio, C., Davies, K., Daleo, P., Dickman, C. R., Donohue, I., DuPre, M. E., Elgersma, K., Eisenhauer, N., Eskelinen, A., Estrada, C., Fay, P. A., Feng, Y., Gruner, D. S., Hagenah, N., Haider, S., Harpole, W. S. & Hersch-Green, E., 10.2024, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 8, 10, p. 1877-1888 12 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Other publications by the same author(s)

Tree species richness drives multiple facets of bee diversity via understorey microenvironment

Xie, T. T., Li, Y., Wang, M. Q., Staab, M., Chen, J. T., Liu, X. W., Shi, X. Y., Zhou, Q. S., Niu, Z. Q., Ma, K. P., Bruelheide, H., Luo, A., Chesters, D., Hao, J. S. & Zhu, C. D., 02.01.2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Animal Ecology. 12 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Arthropod species loss underpins biomass declines

Wildermuth, B., Bröcher, M., Ladouceur, E., Meyer, S. T., Schielzeth, H., Staab, M., Achury, R., Blüthgen, N., Hertzog, L., Hines, J., Roscher, C., Schweiger, O., Weisser, W. W. & Ebeling, A., 01.2026, In: Nature Ecology & Evolution. 10, 1, p. 83-94 12 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Differential effect of grassland mowing on arthropod taxa

Künast, R., Weisser, W. W., Seibold, S., Mayr, D., Siegmüller, N., Schneider, I., Westenrieder, M., Blüthgen, N., Staab, M., Meyer, S. T. & Achury, R., 04.2025, In: Ecological Entomology. 50, 2, p. 288-298 11 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Disentangling the influence of environmental conditions on sex determination in haplodiploid organisms

Wittmann, K., Klein, A. M., Pichler, M. & Staab, M., 03.12.2025, In: Journal of Animal Ecology. 94, 12, p. 2584-2596 13 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Experimental reduction of land use increases invertebrate abundance in grasslands

Staab, M., Keller, A., Achury, R., Hilpert, A., Hölzel, N., Prati, D., Weisser, W. W. & Blüthgen, N., 11.2025, In: Basic and Applied Ecology. 88, p. 62-71 10 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

DOI