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Huizhong Fan, Qing Ye, and Hui Liu.
Date: June 11, 2026
Guangzhou, China: Scientists have long struggled to explain why some plant species sustain more leaf damage than others. It has long been assumed that species adopting a resource-acquisitive strategy suffer more from leaf herbivory, and that those adapted to resource-rich environments face greater herbivory pressure.
However, empirical evidence testing these assumptions simultaneously across large-scale environmental gradients has been lacking. The researchers surveyed leaf herbivory levels, 11 leaf functional traits, insect richness and climatic factors across 61 woody species in five distinct forest sites across China.
