Background invertebrate herbivory on dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa-nana complex) increases with temperature and precipitation across the tundra biome

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Barrio, Isabel C, Linden, Elin, te Beest, Mariska, Olofsson, Johan, Rocha, Adrian, Soininen, Eeva M, Alatalo, Juha M, Andersson, Tommi, Asmus, Ashley, Boike, Julia, Brathen, Kari Anne, Bryant, John P, Buchwal, Agata, Bueno, C Guillermo, Wookey, Philip
• Other Authors: University of Iceland, Umea University, University of Notre Dame, The Arctic University of Norway, Qatar University, University of Turku, University of Texas at Arlington, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Adam Mickiewicz University, University of Tartu, Biological and Environmental Sciences, orcid:0000-0001-5957-6424
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2017
• Subjects: Background insect herbivory; Climate change; Externally feeding defoliators; Latitudinal Herbivory Hypothesis; Leaf damage; Leaf miners; Gall makers; Macroecological pattern; Arctic; Denisova; Forbes; Monique; Svala; Dwarf birch; Polar Biology; Tundra
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/25823; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-017-2139-7; http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/25823/2/supplementary_materials_FINAL.pdf; http://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/25823/1/background_herbivory_betula_FINAL.pdf

Chronic, low intensity herbivory by invertebrates, termed background herbivory, has been understudied in tundra, yet its impacts are likely to increase in a warmer Arctic. The magnitude of these changes is however hard to predict as we know little about the drivers of current levels of invertebrate...