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Invading from the garden? A comparison of leaf herbivory for exotic and native plants in natural and ornamental settings
Author(s) -
Matter Stephen F.,
Brzyski Jessica R.,
Harrison Christopher J.,
Hyams Sara,
Loo Clement,
Loomis Jessica,
Lubbers Hannah R.,
Seastrum Leeann,
Stamper Trevor I.,
Stein Adam M.,
Stokes Richard,
Wilkerson Brandy S.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
insect science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1744-7917
pISSN - 1672-9609
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7917.2012.01524.x
Subject(s) - ornamental plant , herbivore , biology , invasive species , native plant , introduced species , predation , habitat , ecology
The enemies release hypothesis proposes that exotic species can become invasive by escaping from predators and parasites in their novel environment. Agrawal et al . (Enemy release? An experiment with congeneric plant pairs and diverse above‐ and below‐ground enemies. Ecology , 86, 2979–2989) proposed that areas or times in which damage to introduced species is low provide opportunities for the invasion of native habitat. We tested whether ornamental settings may provide areas with low levels of herbivory for trees and shrubs, potentially facilitating invasion success. First, we compared levels of leaf herbivory among native and exotic species in ornamental and natural settings in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. In the second study, we compared levels of herbivory for invasive and noninvasive exotic species between natural and ornamental settings. We found lower levels of leaf damage for exotic species than for native species; however, we found no differences in the amount of leaf damage suffered in ornamental or natural settings. Our results do not provide any evidence that ornamental settings afford additional release from herbivory for exotic plant species.