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AimAccording to the Latitudinal Biotic Interaction Hypothesis (LBIH), the general increase in biodiversity towards lower latitudes can be partially explained by an increase in the intensity of biotic interactions. While LBIH received some support for plant-herbivores interactions, much less is known about how higher trophic levels may contribute to shape biotic interactions across latitudinal gradients. We hypothesized that the diversity of insectivorous birds increases towards lower latitude, leading to higher predation rates on insect herbivores.LocationEurope.TaxonInsectivorous birds and pedunculate oaks.MethodsWe deployed plasticine caterpillars in 138 oak trees in 47 sites along a 19° latitudinal gradient in Europe to quantify bird insectivory through predation attempts. In addition, we used passive acoustic monitoring to (i) characterize the acoustic diversity of surrounding soundscapes; and (ii) infer both taxonomic and functional diversity of insectivorous birds from recordings.ResultsThe functional diversity of insectivorous birds increased towards lower latitude. Bird predation increased with latitude, forest cover and bird acoustic diversity but decreased with mean annual temperature and functional richness of insectivorous birds. Contrary to our predictions, latitudinal clines in bird predation attempts were not directly mediated by changes in insectivorous bird diversity or acoustic diversity, but latitude and habitat still had independent effects on predation attempts.Main conclusionsOur study does not fully support the predictions of the LBIH of more biotic interactions southwards and advocates for better accounting for activity and abundance of insectivorous birds when studying the large-scale variation in insect-tree interactions.

Purpose of the Review One of the major threats to tree health, and hence the resilience of forests and their provision of ecosystem services, is new and emerging pests. Therefore, forest health monitoring is of major importance to detect invasive, emerging and native pest outbreaks. This is usually done by foresters and forest health experts, but can also be complemented by citizen scientists. Here, we review the use of citizen science for detection and monitoring, as well as for hypothesis-driven research and evaluation of control measures as part of forest pest surveillance and research. We then examine its limitations and opportunities and make recommendations on the use of citizen science for forest pest monitoring. Recent Findings The main opportunities of citizen scientists for forest health are early warning, early detection of new pests, monitoring of impact of outbreaks and scientific research. Each domain has its own limitations, opportunities and recommendations to follow, as well as their own public engagement strategies. The development of new technologies provides many opportunities to involve citizen scientists in forest pest monitoring. To enhance the benefits of citizen scientists’ inclusion in monitoring, it is important that they are involved in the cocreation of activities. Summary Future monitoring and research may benefit from tailor-made citizen science projects to facilitate successful monitoring by citizen scientists and expand their practice to countries where the forest health sector is less developed. In this sense, citizen scientists can help understand and detect outbreaks of new pests and avoid problems in the future.

1. Theory predicts that a large fraction of phytochemical diversity—the richness of individual chemical compounds produced by plants—governs the complexity of interactions between plants and their herbivores. While the effect of specific classes of chemical compounds on plant resistance against herbivores has been largely documented, the effect of community-level variation in phytochemical diversity on plant–herbivore interactions has so far received minimal consideration. 2. We hypothesized that plant communities bearing on average higher levels of phytochemical diversity should sustain lower herbivory rates, overall. Yet, the magnitude of this effect could vary across different environmental conditions, potentially because of climate-mediated effects on phytochemical production and changes in herbivore community richness and composition. 3. To address these hypotheses, we used previous knowledge of species-level phytochemical make-up for more than 400 plant species of the Swiss Alps. Using common garden experiments, we estimated season-wide herbivore damage on low (average 3,500 unique molecules) and high (average 4,500 unique molecules) phytochemical diversity plant communities that were planted in the colline, mountain and alpine vegetation sites along two elevation transects in the Alps. 4. We found that high phytochemical diversity plant communities showed reduced levels of herbivore damage in the colline (low elevation) sites, but this pattern reversed in the alpine (high elevation) sites. Our results suggest that the outcome of phytochemical diversity on plant–herbivore interactions depends on the characteristics of the local herbivore communities, together with trade-offs between chemical defences and other plant traits (i.e. physical defences and plant palatability). 5. Synthesis. Phytochemical diversity is a key component of functional diversity, influencing community composition and dynamics. We show that the effect of phytochemical diversity on herbivory is environmental-dependent, generating ecological switches when moving from low to high elevation. Through upward movement of plants under climate change, phytochemical community structure will be likely modified, ultimately disrupting local community assembly processes. ISSN:0022-0477

14 páginas, 3 figuras, Urbanization is an important driver of the diversity and abundance of tree-associated insect herbivores, but its consequences for insect herbivory are poorly understood. A likely source of variability among studies is the insufficient consideration of intra-urban variability in forest cover. With the help of citizen scientists, we investigated the independent and interactive effects of local canopy cover and percentage of impervious surface on insect herbivory in the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) throughout most of its geographic range in Europe. We found that the damage caused by chewing insect herbivores as well as the incidence of leaf-mining and gall-inducing herbivores consistently decreased with increasing impervious surface around focal oaks. Herbivory by chewing herbivores increased with increasing forest cover, regardless of impervious surface. In contrast, an increase in local canopy cover buffered the negative effect of impervious surface on leaf miners and strengthened its effect on gall inducers. These results show that-just like in non-urban areas-plant-herbivore interactions in cities are structured by a complex set of interacting factors. This highlights that local habitat characteristics within cities have the potential to attenuate or modify the effect of impervious surfaces on biotic interactions., This study was carried out with financial support from the French National Research Agency (ANR) in the frame of the Investments for the Future Programme, within the Cluster of Excellence COTE (Continental To coastal Ecosystems: evolution, adaptability, and governance) (ANR-10-LABX-45) and was further funded by the BNP Paribas Foundation as part of its Climate & Biodiversity Initiative the citizen science project Tree Bodyguards. The authors warmly thank all the young European citizens and their teachers who made this study possible. They also thank the professional scientists who kindly agreed to participate in this study: Alexander Kozel (Belarusian State Technological University and American Psychological Association), Andreas Schuldt (Forest Nature Conservation, Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen, German), Aurélien Sallé (Laboratoire de Biologie des Ligneux et des Grandes Cultures, INRAE, Université d'Orléans), Chloe Mendiondo and Claire Colliaux (Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Flakkebjerg Research Centre, DK-4200 Slagelse, Denmark), György Csóka (Department of Forest Protection, NARIC Forest Research Institute, Mátrafüred, Hungary), Lars Opgennoorth (Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Ecological Genetics, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland), Laurent Augusto (INRAE, Bordeaux Sciences Agro), Marija Popović (Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia), Mickael Pihain (Research Unit “Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Evolution”, University of Rennes 1/CNRS, 35042 Rennes, France), Olivier Bouriaud (Applied Ecology Laboratory, Forestry Faculty, “Ștefan cel Mare, University of Suceava, Suceava, Romania), Stefan K. Müller (Freie evangelische Schule Lörrach), Tomas Roslin (Department of Ecology; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Valentin Queloz (Forest Entomology, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL), and Vojtech Lanta (Institute of Botany CAS, Dukelská 135, 37901 Třeboň, Czech Republic). They also thank Michael Scherer-Lorenzen (Geobotany, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg) for the help during the coordination of the research.

Urbanization is recognized as an important driver of the diversity and abundance of tree associated insect herbivores, but its consequences for insect herbivory are controversial. A likely source of variability among studies is the insufficient consideration of intra-urban variability in forest cover. With the help of citizen scientists, we investigated the independent and interactive effect of urbanization and local canopy cover on insect herbivory in the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) throughout most of its geographic range in Europe. The damage caused by chewing insect herbivores as well as the incidence of leaf-mining and gall-inducing herbivores consistently decreased with increasing urbanization around focal oaks. Herbivory by chewing herbivores increased with increasing forest cover, regardless of urbanization. In contrast, an increase in local canopy cover buffered the negative effect of urbanization on leaf-miners and strengthened its effect on gall-inducers. These results show the complexity of plant-herbivore interactions in urbanized areas, highlighting that the presence of local canopy cover within cities has the potential to attenuate or modify the effect of urbanization on biotic interactions.

To cope with environmental challenges, plants produce a wide diversity of phytochemicals, which are also the source of numerous medicines. Despite decades of research in chemical ecology, we still lack an understanding of the organization of plant chemical diversity across species and ecosystems. To address this challenge, we hypothesized that molecular diversity is not only related to species diversity, but also constrained by trophic, climatic, and topographical factors. We screened the metabolome of 416 vascular plant species encompassing the entire alpine elevation range and four alpine bioclimatic regions in order to characterize their phytochemical diversity. We show that by coupling phylogenetic information, topographic, edaphic, and climatic variables, we predict phytochemical diversity, and its inherent composition, of plant communities throughout landscape. Spatial mapping of phytochemical diversity further revealed that plant assemblages found in low to midelevation habitats, with more alkaline soils, possessed greater phytochemical diversity, whereas alpine habitats possessed higher phytochemical endemism. Altogether, we present a general tool that can be used for predicting hotspots of phytochemical diversity in the landscape, independently of plant species taxonomic identity. Such an approach offers promising perspectives in both drug discovery programs and conservation efforts worldwide. (© 2021 National Academy of Sciences.) ISSN:0027-8424 ISSN:1091-6490

Plant communication in response to insect herbivory has been increasingly studied, whereas that involving pathogen attack has received much less attention. We tested for communication between potato (Solanum tuberosum) plants in response to leaf infection by the fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. To this end, we measured the total amount and composition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by control and infected emitter plants, as well as tested for induced resistance of receiver plants exposed to VOCs from emitters. We further tested for changes in the expression of defensive genes due to pathogen infection. Fungal infection did not significantly affect the total amount or composition of VOCs produced by emitter plants. Correspondingly, we found no evidence of higher resistance to the pathogen in receiver plants exposed to VOCs from infected emitters relative to control emitters. Molecular analyses indicated that pathogen infection drove a down-regulation of genes coding for VOC precursors, potentially explaining the absence of pathogen effects on VOC emissions and thus of communication. Overall, these results indicate no evidence of airborne communication between potato plants in response to fungal infection and point at pathogen inhibition of VOC emissions as a likely explanation for this result.

International audience; Forest pests can cause massive ecological and economic damage worldwide. Ecologically sound solutions to diminish forest insect pest impacts include the use of their natural enemies, such as predators and parasitoids, as well as entomopathogenic fungi, bacteria or viruses. Phytochemical compounds mediate most interactions between these organisms, but knowledge of such chemically mediated multitrophic relationships is still at its infancy for forest systems, particularly when compared to agricultural systems. Here, we highlight the main gaps in how phytochemicals of forest trees facilitate or interfere with trophic interactions between trees, insect herbivores, and interacting organisms including predators, parasitoids and microbes. We propose future avenues of research on phytochemical-based biocontrol of forest pests taking into account the characteristics of trees and forests.

International audience

International audience; Foliar endophytic fungi are present in almost all vascular plants. The composition of endophyte communities varies among plant individuals. Likely, but understudied, sources of this variation are the species composition of the plant community and initial attacks by insect herbivores. We addressed these issues by characterizing fungal endophyte communities on leaves of chestnut (Castanea saliva) grown in pure vs. mixed stands. We used ITS metabarcoding methods to identify endophytic fungi associated with galls caused by the invasive gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus, and with surrounding chestnut leaf tissues. We found 1378 different OTUs. The richness, diversity and composition of endophyte communities differed between galls and surrounding leaf tissues but were independent of forest stand composition. Fungal endophyte richness was lower in galls than in surrounding leaf tissues. Most differences in the composition of fungal endophyte communities between galls and foliar tissues were due to OTU turnover. These results suggest that insect-induced galls provide a particular habitat condition for endophytic microorganisms, regardless of forest species composition. A better understanding of endophyte biology is important to improve their use as biocontrol agents of galling insects.

Chapitre 7; International audience; Plants are attacked by pathogens and herbivores with a wide range of lifestyles, both belowground and aboveground. These pathogens and herbivores often co-occur on the same host plant, even though one of them may be in the roots and the other in the shoots. It has long been known that pathogens and herbivores can affect each other when sharing the same part of the plant, but more recently it has been shown that these interactions can span the belowground–aboveground divide. Root pathogens, for instance, can affect foliar herbivores, and, vice versa, foliar herbivores can affect root pathogens. Likewise, root herbivores can affect foliar pathogens and, vice versa, foliar pathogens can affect root herbivores. Such cross-compartment interactions are indirect (i.e., plant-mediated) and may involve induction and priming of common plant defenses, or altered plant quality. This chapter will review the literature and present a framework for this novel type of aboveground–belowground interactions between pathogens and herbivores.

International audience; Although insect herbivores and fungal pathogens frequently share the same individual host plant, we lack general insights in how fungal infection affects insect preference and performance. We addressed this question in a meta-analysis of 1,113 case studies gathered from 101 primary papers that compared preference or performance of insect herbivores on control vs. fungus challenged plants. Generally, insects preferred, and performed better on, not challenged plants, regardless of experimental conditions. Insect response to fungus infection significantly differed according to fungus lifestyle, insect feeding guild and the spatial scale of the interaction (local/distant). Insect performance was reduced on plants challenged by biotrophic pathogens or endophytes but not by necrotrophic pathogens. For both chewing and piercing-sucking insects, performance was reduced on challenged plants when interactions occurred locally but not distantly. In plants challenged by biotrophic pathogens, both preference and performance of herbivores were negatively impacted, whereas infection by necrotrophic pathogens reduced herbivore preference more than performance and endophyte infection reduced only herbivore performance. Our study demonstrates that fungi are may be important but hitherto overlooked drivers of plant-herbivore interactions, suggesting both direct and plant-mediated effects of fungi on insect's behavior and development.

International audience; Theory predicts that mixed forests are more resistant to native pests than pure forests (i.e. associational resistance) because of reduced host accessibility and increased top-down control by natural enemies. Yet, whether the same mechanisms also apply to invasive pests remains to be verified. We tested the hypothesis of associational resistance against the invasive Asian chestnut gall wasp (ACGW, Dryocosmus kuriphilus) by comparing ACGW infestation rates on chestnuts (Castanea sativa) in stands varying in species composition (chestnut alone or associated with oaks, pines or ashes). We investigated the effects of reduced chestnut density and frequency in mixed stands, as well as the effect of biotic interactions between ACGW, its parasitoids and the chestnut blight disease (caused by Cryphonectria parasitica). ACGW infestation rates were significantly lower in chestnut-oak and chestnut-ash mixtures than in pure chestnut stands and chestnut-pine mixtures. Infestation rate decreased with decreasing chestnut relative proportion. The composition of native parasitoid communities emerged from galls significantly differed between pure and mixed chestnut stands, but not the species richness or abundance of parasitoids. The abundance of the introduced parasitoid Torymus sinensis was not correlated with ACGW infestation rates and was independent of stand composition. Blight symptoms modified ACGW infestation rates with taller trees being preferred when they were asymptomatic but avoided when they presented blight disease damage. Our results suggest that conservation biological control based on tree species mixtures could contribute to reducing the damage of invasive forest pests.

International audience; Variance in edibility among plant genotypes is expected to be a key driver of plant genetic diversity (PGD) effects on abundance of insect herbivores and resulting herbivory. Yet, herbivore foraging behavior and leaf consumption may be also context-dependent and, in particular, influenced by herbivore density, which remains unexplored. We used a combination of field and laboratory experiments with saplings from four half-sib families (henceforth, families) of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) to test how PGD and herbivore density interactively affect herbivory. Insect herbivory was assessed in a common garden experiment with plots containing all possible combinations of individuals from one to four oak families. Herbivore density was manipulated by spraying insecticide in a factorial design. Complementary feeding trials with gypsy moth larvae (Lymantria dispar) were used to further explore the mechanisms underlying observed patterns in the field. Herbivory decreased with increasing PGD under normal herbivore density, but not under reduced herbivore abundance. The most damaged oak family in the field was also the most consumed in non-choice tests and was consistently preferred over other families in choice tests. Trials showed that the presence of less edible families in the diet reduced overall consumption by gypsy moth larvae. Under field conditions, the most edible family consistently benefited most from being associated with less edible, neighboring genotypes. Our results demonstrate that small-scale PGD can provide associational resistance to insect herbivory, probably through change in herbivore foraging activity. Importantly, they also reveal that the magnitude of genetic diversity effect depends on herbivore density.