Differential Changes in Tea Quality as Influenced by Insect Herbivory

Even though climate change is having an increasing impact on tea plants, systematic reviews on the impact of climate change on the tea system are scarce. This review was undertaken to assess and synthesize the knowledge around the impacts of current and future climate on yield, quality, and climate suitability for tea; the historical roots and the most influential papers on the aforementioned topics; and the key adaptation and mitigation strategies that are practiced in tea fields. Our findings show that a large number of studies have focused on the impact of climate change on tea quality, followed by tea yield, while a smaller number of studies have concentrated on climate suitability. Three pronounced reference peaks found in Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RYPS) represent the most significant papers associated with the yield, quality, and climate suitability for tea. Tea yield increases with elevated CO2 levels, but this increment could be substantially affected by an increasing temperature. Other climatic factors are uneven rainfall, extreme weather events, and climate-driven abiotic stressors. An altered climate presents both advantages and disadvantages for tea quality due to the uncertainty of the concentrations of biochemicals in tea leaves. Climate change creates losses, gains, and shifts of climate suitability for tea habitats. Further studies are required in order to fill the knowledge gaps identified through the present review, such as an investigation of the interaction between the tea plant and multiple environmental factors that mimic real-world conditions and then studies on its impact on the tea system, as well as the design of ensemble modeling approaches to predict climate suitability for tea. Finally, we outline multifaceted and evidence-based adaptive and mitigation strategies that can be implemented in tea fields to alleviate the undesirable impacts of climate change.

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How much leaf area do insects eat? A data set of insect herbivory sampled globally with a standardized protocol

Ecology ◽

10.1002/ecy.3301 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gisele M. Mendes ◽

Fernando A.O. Silveira ◽

Carolina Oliveira ◽

Wesley Dáttilo ◽

Roger Guevara ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Leaf Area ◽

Insect Herbivory ◽

Data Set ◽

Standardized Protocol

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Potential of spectroscopic analyses for non-destructive estimation of tea quality-related metabolites in fresh new leaves

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-83847-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hiroto Yamashita ◽

Rei Sonobe ◽

Yuhei Hirono ◽

Akio Morita ◽

Takashi Ikka

Keyword(s):

Short Wave ◽

Machine Learning Algorithms ◽

Estimation Methods ◽

Chemical Information ◽

Tea Quality ◽

The Mean ◽

Processing Techniques ◽

Spectral Patterns ◽

Physical And Chemical ◽

Non Destructive

AbstractSpectroscopic sensing provides physical and chemical information in a non-destructive and rapid manner. To develop non-destructive estimation methods of tea quality-related metabolites in fresh leaves, we estimated the contents of free amino acids, catechins, and caffeine in fresh tea leaves using visible to short-wave infrared hyperspectral reflectance data and machine learning algorithms. We acquired these data from approximately 200 new leaves with various status and then constructed the regression model in the combination of six spectral patterns with pre-processing and five algorithms. In most phenotypes, the combination of de-trending pre-processing and Cubist algorithms was robustly selected as the best combination in each round over 100 repetitions that were evaluated based on the ratio of performance to deviation (RPD) values. The mean RPD values were ranged from 1.1 to 2.7 and most of them were above the acceptable or accurate threshold (RPD = 1.4 or 2.0, respectively). Data-based sensitivity analysis identified the important hyperspectral regions around 1500 and 2000 nm. Present spectroscopic approaches indicate that most tea quality-related metabolites can be estimated non-destructively, and pre-processing techniques help to improve its accuracy.

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Interacting effects of insect and ungulate herbivory on Scots pine growth

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-79346-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Michelle Nordkvist ◽

Maartje J. Klapwijk ◽

La rs Edenius ◽

Christer Björkman

Keyword(s):

Plant Growth ◽

Scots Pine ◽

Growth Response ◽

Insect Herbivory ◽

Additive Effects ◽

Significant Interaction Effect ◽

Ungulate Herbivory ◽

Pine Trees ◽

Multiple Species ◽

Species Specific

AbstractMost plants are subjected to damage from multiple species of herbivores, and the combined impact on plant growth can be non-additive. Since plant response to herbivores tends to be species specific, and change with repeated damage, the outcome likely depend on the sequence and number of attacks. There is a high likelihood of non-additive effects on plant growth by damage from mammals and insects, as mammalian herbivory can alter insect herbivore damage levels, yet few studies have explored this. We report the growth response of young Scots pine trees to sequential mammal and insect herbivory, varying the sequence and number of damage events, using an ungulate-pine-sawfly system. Combined sawfly and ungulate herbivory had both additive and non-additive effects on pine growth—the growth response depended on the combination of ungulate browsing and sawfly defoliation (significant interaction effect). Repeated sawfly herbivory reduced growth (compared to single defoliation) on un-browsed trees. However, on browsed trees, depending on when sawfly defoliation was combined with browsing, trees exposed to repeated sawfly herbivory had both higher, lower and the same growth as trees exposed to a single defoliation event. We conclude that the sequence of attacks by multiple herbivores determine plant growth response.

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