This chapter describes the composition and historical development of urban forests, how urban development shapes tree density and diversity and how herbivores and herbivory respond to these changes in urban vegetation. The pattern of the increased prevalence of exotic plants in cities, the novel...

Non-native plants rarely escape damage by herbivores. Instead, upon arrival in a new region, they begin to acquire new enemies, replacing those they have lost during their migration. These herbivores can include both natives to the new region and species that have themselves been accidentally or...

Non-native plants change the communities they integrate in multiple ways, including direct and indirect effects on co-occurring native vegetation. While direct effects are more obvious, indirect effects, i.e. those mediated by biotic interactions with other trophic levels, can also have pervasive...

Invasive plants often occur at high densities and tend to be highly generalist in their interactions with herbivores, pathogens, mycorrhiza, endophytes and pollinators. These characteristics mean that invasive plants should frequently participate in diverse indirect biotic interactions with the...

Plants are effective in defending themselves against herbivores, parasites and pathogens. To accomplish this, they employ various strategies, one of them being the synthesis of antimicrobial and antiherbivory compounds. To reduce the amount of energy spent, such compounds can be efficiently...

This chapter explores how and why selected species that have a particular significance in the character of the European forest, have declined or increased. Particularly, the chapter focuses on: the aurochs (the wild ox), which would have been important in creating openness in the early Holocene...

This chapter focuses on the agents of pre-dispersal (mainly insects) and post-dispersal (usually generalist herbivores such as rodents and granivorous birds) seed predation, seed bank predation, the impact of seed predation on plant population dynamics, and plant response to seed predation. Case...

This chapter reports the epidemiology, clinical signs, gross and histological findings, and control measures of the poisoning by plants in herbivores in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, central-western Brazil, during 1994-2008. Plants causing hepatogenous photosensitization, sudden death,...

This chapter describes the epidemiological, clinical and pathological aspects of T. micrantha poisoning in domestic herbivores in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Data regarding natural and experimental cases of T. micrantha poisoning were retrospectively retrieved from farmers and the...

This book contains 28 chapters with emphasis on the interactive nature of the relationships between the soil, plant, animal and environmental components of grassland systems, both natural and managed. It analyses the present knowledge and the future trends of research for combining the classical...