Estimates of damage by herbivorous insects onEucalyptustrees

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Abstract
High levels of insect damage on Eucalyptus have been noted but not quantified in previous literature. We present estimates of leaf damage for 44 Eucalyptus species from a variety of habitats. Overall, an average of 15% of expanded leaf area was missing. While some species were generally lightly grazed, others, especially those in more mesic. higher altitude communities, usually sustained much heavier leaf damage. In the age and size classes, communities and years that we sampled, the overall levels of damage to eucalypts were higher than chronic damage levels reported for north temperate communities. We also suggest a simple method for rapidly estimating the proportion of leaf area missing from trees.