Evaluation of oak leaf gall in healthy and declined forest oak (Quercus brantii lindl.) stands of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, Iran

Document Type : Research article

Authors

1 Corresponding author, Assistant Prof., Research Division of Forests, Rangelands and Watershed Management, Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Yasouj, Iran

2 Associate Prof., Research Division of Natural Resources, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Shahrekord, Iran

3 Associate Prof., Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Oak trees are hosts of diverse gall-inducing parasites, but the information about the leaf gall is poorly understood. This study aims to examine the weight of leaf galls on oak trees (Quercus brantii Lindl.) in different crown directions with different growth forms (high-forest and coppice) on different geographical slopes in healthy and dry stands of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, Iran. For this purpose, two sample plots with a one-ha area involving decline traces of trees (dry) and two sample plots without dieback (control) on the northern and southern slopes in forest sites of Boyer-Ahmad and Dena counties of Iran were selected by field survey. After recording the quantitative variables (DBH, mean diameter of sprout-clump, height and canopy cover), we collected 20 leaves from each direction of the crown of each tree sampled. In the laboratory, the galls were removed from the leaves and weighed. The results showed that there was no statistical significance between the different crown directions of the sample trees in both growth forms, although, in most sites, the northern direction of the trees had more galls. Leaf samples from the south decline site were found to have significantly more gall weight than samples from the other sites in both growth forms. Also, high-forest trees had significantly more leaf galls on their leaves than the coppice trees did. Monthly average temperature and altitude seem to be two determining factors in leaf gall development of the oak trees.

Keywords


- Blanche, K.R., 2000. Diversity of insect-induced galls along a temperature– rainfall gradient in the tropical savannah region of the Northern Territory, Australia. Austral Ecology, 25(4): 311-318.
- Blanche, K.R. and Ludwig, J.A., 2001. Species richness of gall-inducing insects and host plants along an altitudinal gradient in Big Bend National Park, Texas. The American Midland Naturalist, 145(2): 219-233.
- Cao, X., Ye, J., Ye, J.L., Xu, W.F., Gao, J. and Ju, Y.W., 2014. Population dynamics of Phylloxera notabilis and its correlation with temperature. Forest Pest & Disease, 33(5): 5-12.
- Carneiro, M.A.A., Coelho, M.S. and Fernandes, G.W., 2014. Galls in Brazilian mountains: New reports and perspectives: 273-293. In: Fernandes, G. and Santos, J. (Eds.). Neotropical Insect Galls. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 550p.
- Cuevas-Reyes, P., Quesada, M., Hanson, P., Dirzo, R. and Oyama, K., 2004. Diversity of gall-inducing insects in a Mexican tropical dry forest: the importance of plant species richness, life-forms, host plant age and plant density. Journal of Ecology, 92(4): 707-716.
- Dang, Z.H. and Chen, F.J., 2011. Responses of insects to rainfall and drought. Chinese Journal of Applied Entomology, 48(5): 1161-1169.
- Fagundes, M., Cuevas-Reyes, P., Ramos Leite, L.F., Borges, M.A.Z., de Araújo, W.S., Fernandes, G.W. and Siqueira, W.K., 2020. Diversity of gall-inducing insects associated with a widely distributed tropical tree species: Testing the environmental stress hypothesis. Environmental Entomology, 49(4): 838-847.
- Fernandes, G.W. and Lara, A.C.F., 1993. Diversity of Indonesian gall-forming herbivores along altitudinal gradients. Biodiversity Letters, 1(6): 186-192.
- Fernandes, G.W. and Price, P.W., 1992. The adaptive significance of insect gall distribution: survivorship of species in xeric and mesic habitats. Oecologia, 90(1): 14-20.
- Gonçalves-Alvim, S.J. and Fernandes, G.W., 2001. Biodiversity of galling insects: historical, community and habitat effects in four neotropical savannas. Biodiversity and Conservation, 10(1): 79-98.
- Guo, R., Wang, Y.P. and Wu, H., 2012. The diversity of insects galls and relationships between insects galls and their host plants and environment. Journal of Environmental Entomology, 34(3): 370-376.
- Hashemi Khabir, Z., Babmorad, M. and Hanifeh, S., 2015. Gall inducing pest fauna of willow trees and measurement of similarity indices among different sites in West Azerbaijan province. Forest Research and Development, 1(1): 55-66 (In Persian with English summary).
- Hong, X., Dong, H., Fu, Y., Cheng, L. and Oldfield, G.N., 2001. Relationships between eriophyoid mites and their host plants, with a case review of Eriophyoidea fauna of China. Systematic & Applied Acarology, 6(1): 119-136.
- Jactel, H., Koricheva, J. and Castagneyrol, B., 2019. Responses of forest insect pests to climate change: not so simple. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 35: 103-108.
- Jahanbazy Goujani, H., Iranmanesh, Y., Talebi, M. and Pourhashemi, M., 2021. Micronutrients changes during the growing season in different dryness classes of Brant`s oak (Quercus brantii Lindl.) trees, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. Forest and Wood products, 74(2): 223-233 (In Persian with English summary).
- Lara, A.C.F. and Fernandes, G.W., 1996. The highest diversity of galling insects: Serra do Cipó, Brazil. Biodiversity Letters, 3(3): 111-114.
- Lara, A.C.F., Fernandes, G.W. and Gonçalves-Alvim, S.J., 2002. Tests of hypotheses on patterns of gall distribution along an altitudinal gradient. Tropical Zoology, 15(2): 219-232.
- Li, F.L., Li, T., Su, J., Yang, S., Wang, P.L. and Zhang, J.P., 2016. Temporal and spatial differences in gall induction on Haloxylon by Aceria haloxylonis (Acari: Eriophyidae) in the Gurbantünggüt Desert. Systematic and Applied Acarology, 21(12): 1670-1680.
- Maldonado-López, Y., Cuevas-Reyes, P. and Oyama, K., 2016. Diversity of gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) associated with oak trees (Fagaceae: Quercus) in a fragmented landscape in Mexico. Arthropod-Plant Interactions, 10(1): 29-39.
- Marvie Mohadjer, M.R. 2007. Silviculture. University of Tehran Press, Tehran, 387p (In Persian).
- Ma, S.M., Yu, H., Li, C.C. and Yang, M.Z., 2008. Plant gall biology. Chinese Bulletin of Entomology, 45(2): 330-335.
- Mehdi Karami, Sh., Ahmadi, A., Jafari Asl, F. and Barani Beiranvand, Z., 2019. Investigating the effect of gall on some phytoiochemical compounds in Quercus persica trees (Case study: Blouran area, Lorestan Province). Journal of Plant Research, 31(4): 947-954 (In Persian with English summary).
- Oyama, K., Pérez-Pérez, M.A., Cuevas-Reyes, P. and Luna-Reyes, R., 2003. Regional and local species richness of gall-inducing insects in two tropical rain forests in Mexico. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 19(5): 595-598.
- Patankar, R., Thomas, S.C. and Smith, S.M., 2011. A gall-inducing arthropod drives declines in canopy tree photosynthesis. Oecologia, 167(3): 701-709.
- Price, P.W., Abrahamson, W.G., Hunter, M.D. and Melika, G., 2004. Using gall wasps on oaks to test broad ecological concepts. Conservation Biology, 18(5): 1405-16.
- Sadeghi, S.E., Melika, G., Stone, G., Tavakoli, M., Barimani, H. and Zeinali, S., 2014. A review of oak gall wasps of Iran, distribution, host plants and introducing a managing programm for their`s protection. Journal of Plant Research, 27(3): 450-464 (In Persian with English summary).
- Silva, P.S.D., Almeida-Santos, B., Tabarelli, M. and Almeida-Cortez, J.S., 2011. Occurrence of gall complexes along a topographic gradient in an undisturbed lowland forest of central Amazonia. Revista Brasileira de Biociências, 9(2): 133-138.
- Stone, G.N. and Schönrogge, K., 2003. The adaptive significance of insect gall morphology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 18(10): 512-514.
- Tarasi, J., Sadeghi, S.E., Ostovan, H. and Shojaei, M., 2006. Density of poplar psyllid, Camaratoscena hoberlandti Vondracek, on different poplar clones in Zanjan Province. Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 11(4): 79-85 (In Persian with English summary).
- Toïgo, M., Vallet, P., Tuilleras, V., Lebourgeois, F., Rozenberg, P., Perret, S., Courbaud, B. and Perot, T., 2015. Species mixture increases the effect of drought on tree ring density, but not on ring width, in Quercus petraea–Pinus sylvestris stands. Forest Ecology and Management, 345: 73-82.
- Wright, M.G. and Samways, M.J., 1998. Insect species richness tracking plant species richness in a diverse flora: gall-insects in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa. Oecologia, 115(3): 427-433.
- Yousefi, M., Khoramivafa, M., Mahdavi Damghani, A., Mohammadi, Gh. and Beheshti Alagha, A., 2017. Assessment of carbon sequestration and its economic value in Iranian oak forests: Case study Bisetoon protected area. Environmental Sciences, 15(3): 123-134 (In Persian with English summary).