For Trees, Carbs are Key to Surviving Insect Defoliation, Study Finds
Published:17 Aug.2021 Source:Harvard University
A recent multi-year outbreak of an invasive moth killed thousands of acres of oak trees across southern New England. But interspersed among the wreckage were thousands of trees that survived. A new study published today in Functional Ecology sheds light on why. Research by scientists from Harvard, UMass Amherst, Boston University, and MIT reveals that a tree's carbohydrate reserves are crucial to surviving an onslaught of hungry caterpillars.
The biology of trees makes them resilient to even the most severe stressors. "Oak trees are planners, in a way," says Meghan Blumstein, NSF Post-doctoral Research Fellow at MIT and a co-author of the study. "Some of the food they make during the growing season is used immediately for energy and some is stored in the stems and roots for a rainy day. With stored carbs, they are able to immediately create a new flush of leaves after an insect outbreak."