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• Autor(a) principal: Medeiros, João de Deus
• Data de Publicação: 1995
• Outros Autores: de Morretes, Berta Lange
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biotemas (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/biotemas/article/view/22747

The defenses found in plants occupying ecologically distinct habitats have received much theoretical and little experimental attention. Rates of herbivory and defensive characteristies of  mature leaves were measured in Miconia cabucu, a gap-adapted species of tropical rainforest. The leaf size and shape found in M. cabucu is not consistent with the general tendency for sun leaves, and/or for plant species that occur and reproduce in disturbances such as tree fall gaps or pioneer species, typically adapted to the high light conditions. The leaves are large, hypostomatous, and not lobed. The stomata are small and the densities as great as 1980 per mm2.  The  abaxial surface is densely covered  by a mass of stellate hairs. The grazing in mature leaves were more evident then young leaves. Grazing rates were expressed as the percentage of the leaf area damaged. The patterns of defense mechanisms found in M. cabucu are discurssed in terms of current theories of plant – herbivore interations.