Oak Trees Delay Budburst to Thwart Caterpillars, Study Finds
Oak trees actively delay their spring leaf-out by about three days in years with heavy caterpillar outbreaks, a tactic that markedly lowers caterpillar survival and reduces insect damage by roughly 55%. Researchers combined field data with Sentinel-1 radar remote sensing over 2,400 square kilometers in Northern Bavaria, analyzing 137,500 observations from 60 forest sites (notably during a 2019 gypsy moth outbreak) to show this biotic-driven timing alters forest phenology and should be considered in ecological models amid climate change.