Changes in the Trophic Activity of Birch Leaf–Eaters Along the Pollution Gradient Near the Middle Ural Copper Smelter
E. A. BELSKAYA, E. L. VOROBEICHIK
Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, UB RAS, 620144, Yekaterinburg, 8 Marta str., 202
Keywords: leaf-chewing insects, miners, white birch, trophic activity, copper smelter, industrial pollution, heavy metals, Middle Urals
Abstract
Foliar damage to white birch (Betula pubescens) caused by leaf-chewing insects and miners was assessed in 2005–2006 and in 2008 in the vicinity of a large copper smelter in the Middle Urals (Revda, Sverdlovsk oblast). The following indices were considerably lower near the smelter than in the background and buffer zones: the total leaf area removed by the insects (3–11 times), the number of damaged leaves (1–4 times), and the average leaf area removed per damaged leaf (2 times). The effect size was similar for all the three parameters and remained stable with time. Both groups of insects showed lower trophic activity in the impact zone, but the impact of pollution was greater on leaf–chewing insects than on miners.
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