Kimora Brock

BIOL 316/516
Plant-Animal Interactions
Title
Herbivores Promote Habitat Specialization by Trees in Amazon Forests
Summary
The researchers basically wanted to study growth v. antiherbivore defense in clay soils
v. nutrient-poor white sands. The objective of the study was to determine if:
1.
soil specialists can grown in a different edaphic environment, or if soIl type alone
a sufficient barrier for these plants?
2.
herbivores exclude clay specialists from white-sand forests?
3.
white-sand specialists grow more slowly that clay forest specialists, putting them
at a competitive disadvantage in clay forests?
The hypothesis stated that, plants that do not invest sufficiently in defenses ought to be
excluded from white sand forests by herbivores, because the cost of replacing damaged
tissue in such a nutrient poor environment should be prohibitively high. In contrast,
species that invest heavily in defenses grow more slowly and and be at a competitive
disadvantage in clay forests. We talked in class about how plants have a certain
amount of energy/resources available that they will spend on survival. This can include
growing really tall to reach the sun, or building a thicker skin to make less penetrable to
insects and herbivores. This is called the principle of allocation, which is fundamental to
understanding this report. They studied this relationship by conducting a reciprocal
transplant study of seedlings of different family, genus, and species in the two different
soil types and antiherbivore defenses.
They found that when placed in a white sand habitat, both clay and white sand specialist
plants suffered similarly. But when protected from herbivores, the clay plant produced
more than twice the amount of leaf area and grew significantly taller that the white-sand
species. The researchers found that although soil type has an affect on the young
plants, it cannot be the sole explanation. Contrastingly, when unprotected from
herbivores in white-sand habitat, white sand specialists exhibited a significantly higher
leaf growth rate than the clay specialists. These results were somewhat contradictory to
the hypothesis. without herbivores. the results indicate that clay specialist out grow
white-sand specialists in both soil types, however, when herbivores are introduced, the
clay species only survives in the clay soil which means that there is a strong negative

impact on their life. habitat specialization is without a doubt necessary, and one of the
most important interactions for these plants.
Questions
1.
It states in the report that light levels were controlled for, but what about water?
2.
Was there a difference in growth between the different plants/seedlings they
used?
3.
What was the clay specialist allocation ratio?/ What made the clay perform so
well in both environments?
Idea
Is there potential for finer-scale habitat specialization? extremely positive effects for
agriculture?