ABSTRACT. 1. The pedunculate oak, Quercus rohur L., suffers high annual levels of spring defoliation in Wytham Woods. near Oxford. 2. This spring defoliation affects late season caterpillars through a variety of damage‐induced changes in the leaves. 3. Diurnea fagella (D. & S.), one of the commonest late season caterpillars, shows reduced larval survival and pupal weight on regrowth foliage when compared to undamaged primary foliage. 4. D. fagella also suffer higher larval mortality on naturally damaged primary foliage than they do on undamaged foliage. 5. Despite this, the three commonest late season caterpillar species are more abundant on damaged trees than undamaged ones. and their distributions are biased towards damaged leaves within the canopy. 6. Other factors that may be more important than leaf damage in determining the distribution and abundance of late season caterpillars are discussed. D.fagella larvae spin their larval refuges more rapidly on damaged than undamaged foliage, and this may reduce mortality by natural enemies, or ameliorate adverse effects of weather.
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Mark D. Hunter (1987) studied this question.