Effect of water increment on phenology, productivity, and herbivory of Fuchsia boliviana C. (Onagraceae) in Northwestern Argentina

MAGRO, JULIETA; LOMÁSCOLO, SILVIA B.; SUÁREZ, PABLO; MONMANY, A. CAROLINA; ANDRADA, FRANCO

ECOLOGÍA AUSTRAL

ASOCIACIÓN ARGENTINA DE ECOLOGÍA

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2019 vol. 29 p. 185 - 193

0327-5477

Water availability may affect plant productivitybecause it limits a plant?s ability to reproduce and defend itself. In thisfield study, we studied the effect of water increment in relation to a) flowerproduction, b) fruit production, and c) herbivory, focusing on Fuchsia boliviana (Onagraceae) in theYungas forest of northwestern Argentina. We selected 10 pairs of plants of similarsize separated at least 5 m from each other. We watered one plant of the pairwith 20 L twice a week between September and December, 2016. The number offlowers and fruits of all plants were counted twice a week. Herbivory wasquantified once from photographs of five leaves per plant using ImageJ version1.5i. Based on Wilcoxon tests, we found no difference in the number of flowers,or fruits, nor in herbivory in plants of both treatments. We observed A trendfor watered plants starting to flower later and with more intensity thanunwatered plants. We discuss different options that may explain why waterincrease did not affect reproduction nor the level of herbivore damage in Fuchsia boliviana.