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Although many studies have investigated plant growth in the context of episodic herbivory and pressed resource availability, relatively few have examined how plant growth is affected by pulsed resources and chronic herbivory. Periodical cicada (Magicicada spp.) adults represent a pulsed detrital subsidy that fertilizes plants, and live cicada nymphs are long-lived root-feeding herbivores. Previous studies of cicada herbivory effects have been inconclusive, and previous studies of cicada-mediated fertilization did not examine effects on trees, or on a multiyear timescale. Here, we describe the results of a 3-yr experiment that factorially manipulated the presence and absence of cicada fertilization and herbivory in a population of 100 American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) trees. We found that cicada fertilization strongly increased tree growth in the year of emergence, creating differences in tree size that persisted at least 2 yr later. By comparison, we did not detect reductions in tree growth associated with cicada herbivory in any year of this experiment. However, cicada herbivory reduced the densities of, and damage from, other aboveground herbivores. These results suggest that cicadas affect the size structure of forests over multiple years, and raise questions about how cicada-mediated fertilization and herbivory will affect tree growth over longer timescales.

Acute resource pulses can have dramatic legacies for organismal growth, but the legacy effects of resource pulses on broader aspects of community structure and ecosystem processes are less understood. Mass emergence of periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) provides an excellent opportunity to shed light on the influence of resource pulses on community and ecosystem dynamics: the adults emerge every 13 or 17 years in vast numbers over much of eastern North America, with a smaller but still significant number becoming incorporated into forest food webs. To study the potential effects of such arthropod resource pulse on primary production and belowground food webs, we added adult cicada bodies to the soil surface surrounding sycamore trees and assessed soil carbon and nitrogen concentrations, plant‐available nutrients, abundance and community composition of soil fauna occupying various trophic levels, decomposition rate of plant litter after 50 and 100 days, and tree performance for 4 years. Contrary to previous studies, we did not find significant cicada effects on tree performance despite observing higher plant‐available nutrient levels on cicada addition plots. Cicada addition did change the community composition of soil nematodes and increased the abundance of bacterial‐ and fungal‐feeding nematodes, while plant feeders, omnivores, and predators were not influenced. Altogether, acute resource pulses from decomposing cicadas propagated belowground to soil microbial‐feeding invertebrates and stimulated nutrient mineralization in the soil, but these effects did not transfer up to affect tree performance. We conclude that, despite their influence on soil food web and processes they carry out, even massive resource pulses from arthropods do not necessarily translate to NPP, supporting the view that ephemeral nutrient pulses can be attenuated relatively quickly despite being relatively large in magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]