HERBIVORY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

We argue that herbivores often induce nonlinear or biphasic growth and development in plants. Collectively these individual responses transl ate into a system-level optimization curve wherein at low levels of he rbivory overall community responses show increases in production poten tial, whereas extreme herbivory causes extreme reduction in productivi ty. The transition between these two states defines a point of optimal herbivory in respect to C and N processes. We present four case examp les from the literature demonstrating such nonlinear responses, sugges ting a widespread existence for this herbivore-plant phenomenon. The n onlinear responses appear to demonstrate temporal and spatial scale de pendencies.