An international team of scientists conducted a study on the impact of herbivorous insects on the biogeochemical cycle in deciduous forests in different parts of the world. Kinga Stępniak from the UW’s Doctoral School of Exact and Natural Sciences was involved in the research and co-authored an article published in “Nature Communications”.

Kinga Stępniak’s research in the Białowieża Forest is part of an international project on biogeochemical cycles in forty intact forests around the world and the impact herbivorous insects have on them.

As part of the project, scientists analysed freshly aged and green leaves, looking at carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and silica concentrations. Issues such as leaf production, herbivory and nutrient flows at the stand level were also taken into account.

“It was very demanding work, first in the forest, then in front of a computer, but it was definitely worth it. Work such as this is extremely complex, involving a diversity of plants, each representing a huge range of defensive strategies. On top of this, there are interactions with a variety of herbivorous insect communities, in sites with variable resources. All this makes some generalisation necessary, but the results we receive allow us to better model the interactions between herbivores, plants and soil. As a result, next-generation models can predict the overall impact of herbivores on the structure and functioning of ecosystems over longer time scales,” Kinga Stępniak said.

According to the researchers’ findings, herbivorous insects release larger amounts of nutrients in tropical forests than in temperate or boreal forests. Their flow increases with the average annual temperature. Therefore, insects have a significant impact on the cycling of ecosystem elements. In addition, climate can affect interactions between natural populations of plants and herbivores, with important consequences for global biogeochemical cycles in deciduous forests.