RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Vehicle pollution is associated with elevated insect damage to street trees
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.06.15.496337
DO 10.1101/2022.06.15.496337
A1 Emily K. Meineke
A1 David S. Eng
A1 Richard Karban
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/06/17/2022.06.15.496337.abstract
AB Vehicle pollution is a pervasive aspect of anthropogenic change across rural and urban habitats. The most common emissions are carbon- or nitrogen-based pollutants that may impact diverse interactions between plants and insect herbivores. However, the effects of vehicle pollution on plant-insect interactions are poorly understood.Here, we combine a city-wide experiment across the Sacramento Metropolitan Area and a laboratory experiment to determine how vehicle emissions affect insect herbivory and leaf nutritional quality.We demonstrate that leaf damage to a native oak species (Quercus lobata) commonly planted across the western US is substantially elevated on trees exposed to vehicle emissions. In the laboratory, caterpillars preferred leaves from highway-adjacent trees and performed better on leaves from those same trees.Synthesis and applications. Together, our studies demonstrate that the heterogeneity in vehicle emissions across cities may explain highly variable patterns of insect herbivory on street trees. Our results also indicate that trees next to highways are particularly vulnerable to multiple stressors, including insect damage. To combat these effects, urban foresters may consider installing trees that are less susceptible to insect herbivory along heavily traveled roadways.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.