Insect Herbivory Affects Size Variability in Plant Populations

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Abstract
Size variation in plant populations has important potential effects on the fitness of individuals, but has rarely been examined in natural vegetation. In particular, the role of herbivory in plant size variation has not been investigated in the field. We have measured individual plant size (in terms of total leaf number) in eight species representing annual and perennial forbs and grasses growing in plant communities of different successional age. Insect herbivory was reduced by the application of a non-persistent insecticide. The size variability of plants was compared in insecticide-treated and control plots. By lowering the abundance of insect herbivores, variability was dramatically reduced in all the plant species studied. We suggest that insect herbivory may affect plants by reducing their size and survival and thus may act in a similar way to competition as a modifying function of plant size distributions.

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