Herbivory makes major contributions to ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling in tropical forests

The functional role of herbivores in tropical rainforests remains poorly understood. We quantified the magnitude of, and underlying controls on, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycled by invertebrate herbivory along a 2800 m elevational gradient in the tropical Andes spanning 12°C mean annual temperature. We find, firstly, that leaf area loss is greater at warmer sites with lower foliar phosphorus, and secondly, that the estimated...