Benjamin Adroit Sandra R. Schachat H. Tuncay Güner Jean-Philippe Orts Thomas Denk
Front. Ecol. Evol., 18 September 2025
Sec. Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology
Volume 13 – 2025 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2025.1549315
Introduction: Evidence of insect herbivory on fossilized leaves is widely used to ascertain the evolution of feeding strategies, and trophic changes in response to phenomena such as climate change. However, leaves can decompose somewhat before fossilization, and the extent to which decomposition may bias estimates of insect herbivory in deep time is far from fully understood. There are many points at which evidence may become obscured as a leaf travels from its parent tree into the depositional environment where it fossilizes.
