Separate effects of human visitation and touch on plant growth and herbivory in an old-field community

• Published in: American journal of botany Vol. 89; no. 9; pp. 1401 - 1409
• Main Authors: Cahill, James F., Castelli, Jeffrey P., Casper, Brenda B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Botanical Soc America 01.09.2002; Botanical Society of America
• Subjects: Apocynum cannabinum; Biomass; Boring insects; Crop harvesting; Ecology; Erigeron; experimental design; experimental methods; Herbivores; herbivory uncertainty principle; humans; Infestation; insect pests; interspecific variation; Leaves; measurement; Mortality; old‐field; Pennsylvania; plant communities; Plant growth; plant morphology; Plants; Potentilla; Potentilla recta; predation; species; stems; thigmomorphogenesis; Vegetation; visitation effect; Pennsylvania

Although animal scientists have long been aware that methods used to measure an experimental system can affect the subject of measurement, similar confounding effects of commonly used field methods have only recently been acknowledged by plant ecologists. Here we demonstrate significant effects of w...