Floral herbivory increases with inflorescence size and local plant density in Digitalis purpurea

Insect herbivores search for their host plants in heterogeneous environments, and the efficiency of host location may be influenced by plant architecture and abundance. In this study, we ask how plant and habitat characteristics traditionally thought to attract pollinators are related to attack rates by floral herbivores. Patterns of floral herbivory by the moth larva Eupithecia pulchellata were studied in relation to inflorescence size and local plant density in two years in a natural population of the facultative biennial Digitalis purpurea. Overall levels of herbivory were low, 84% of the infested plants lost less than 10% of their flowers. Only 9% of the plants lost more than 20% of their flowers. Probability of herbivory at the plant level increased strongly with inflorescence height, and it was considerably higher in dense patches compared to sparse ones. There was no effect of local plant density on the functional relationship between inflorescence size and probability of herbivory. Both number and proportion of damaged flowers per plant increased with inflorescence height. The results suggest that E. pulchellata is attracted to dense patches and large individuals of D. purpurea, and that negative effects of herbivory increase with plant size. This implies diminishing returns for investment in more flowers in D. purpurea, and indicates that herbivory may select for smaller flowering size and flower number in this monocarpic species.