Effects of Oak Processionary Moth (Thaumetopoea processionea L.) Outbreaks on the Leaf Performance and Health of Urban and Forest Oak Trees (Quercus robur L.) in Brandenburg, Germany

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Accept in Present Form: The paper can be accepted without any further changes

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

 

thank you very much for your comments. The english language were checked and improved with the help of our native speaker and Co-author Conor McGrath.

Reviewer 2 Report

Review report for forests manuscript Dec, 27,2022

In general, This study is very interesting. It scientifically sounds with a great topic and a great impact on the field. The manuscript will be suitable for publication after a minor revision.

Detailed comments:

1-The English language and /writing style is fine needs some moderate  check spelling and moderate grammar check.

2-Please avoid using the personal pronouns (I, We, our) such as in line  17: we report and in line 374: we assume and more.

Abstract

_This section is missing the direct aim of the study. Please state the aim of the study clearly in this section.

• please include some significant values and most significant findings in this section

Keywords:

-The keywords has been chosen very carefully and accurately But 

• please add leaf health to the keywords list.

Introduction

-The introduction is very short and doesn’t provide enough background. It needs to be elongated and improved.

Materials and Methods

-This section is ok and the methods are adequate.

 Results:

The results are very interesting  But with poor  presentation; the figures need to be moved near to the corresponding text.

Discussion:

_This section is fairly written.

Conclusion :

This section is well written and the conclusion is supported by the results of this study and includes the most insights results.

References

This section is adequate, well written. And it is up To date . 

Author Response

Dear reviwer,

 

thank you very much for your comments.

We improved the mansucript according to your very helpful comments.

We additionally improved also the englisch language with the help of ournative speaker (and co-author) Mr. Conor McGrath.

Kind regards,

Anne Arnold

Reviewer 3 Report

It was a pleasure reading the manuscript and I recommend it for publication. The introduction, used methods and conclusion are all satisfactory, however, I noticed many grammar and style errors which should be corrected before publication. The manuscript should have been thoroughly proofread before submission.
Most notably, all of the common names of organisms are capitalized which is not suitable in English, e.g. change Oak processionary moth and Oak to oak processionary moth and oak.

Recommended changes are marked in bold. Explanations for changes and notes are in italic.
Abstract:
Line 11: In this context, many...
Line 14: ...recreation forests, etc.
Line 17: frequency. In this (missing space)
Line 19: Oak leaves. Infested (missing space)
Line 21: The leafve performance
Line 23-24: higher atfor infested urban
Line 25: as already immediately

Keywords:
Keywords should not be capitalized.

Introduction:
Line 33: pest species but it they also causes change
Line 43: NEP, NPP - explain these abbreviations and write them in full before first use
Line 55: plastoquinone, ultimately
Line 55: NADP - once again, the full term should be mentioned before abbreviated
Line 56: PS I - ditto
Line 58: Cytochrome-Complex cytochrome complex
Line 60: excessive light etc. - no need to use etc. after providing an example with e.g.
Line 60: Ccytochrome
Line 61: NADPH - another abbreviation used without explanation, consider that not all readers will know what it stands for!
Line 70: abiotic stress,
Line 72: stress, i.e., leaf chewing insects [17,18], gall formers, and fungi [19,20],
Line 74: tree- saplings
Line 81: reactions to people human and livestock. health
Lines 85-87: Abbreviations don't need to be put in quotation marks. Also please explain abbreviation OJIP.
Line 96: oak- leaves

Methods:
Line 101: common-Oak common oak
Line 105: 73 years old
Line 105: (52°44’33’’N, 12°23’51’’E). (52°47’33’’, 12°23’51’’). Why are there two different coordinates here?
Line 109: Aanthrosol
Lines 120-121: Use on instead of at
Line 125: thirty 30
Line 148: tTable 1
Lines 160-161: Qquantum Is this sentence finished?
Lines 180-181: No need for quotation marks for software.

Results:
Line 201: non-infested conditions,
Line 202: Please be consistent with formatting for dates. You use parentheses here but not before.
Line 202: Commas are used to separate thousands in English, write 30,000, not 30.000.
Line 232: Please use consistent formatting. Here you have Fig 2 but before in the text you wrote figure 2. Make up your mind and follow the instructions for authors when it comes to formatting.
Line 233: eEnergy
Line 241: dDegree of
Line 267: Writing "highly significantly" is redundant in my opinion. Either it is significant, or isn't. Simply write significantly.
Line 276: Formatting!
Line 277: eEnergy
Line 282: dDegree of

Discussion:
Line 333: fertilized depositions [45], genetical
Line 358: In October,
Line 359: This means, the ability
Line 365: Iinfestation

Conclusion:
Line 380: We therefore suggest therefore


Line 416: References
Please make sure that all used references are formatted consistently. See author instructions for proper formatting. You are missing spaces between volume and page numbers in many references!

 

 

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

 

thank you very much for your helpful and important comments.

We improved the mansucript according to your requirements. The english language were also improvd with the help of our native speaker Mr. Conor McGrath (also co-author).

Kind regards,

 

Anne Arnold

 

Reviewer 4 Report

Check the writing rules again

For example ;

Line 232 (Fig 2) correct (Fig. 2)

Line 276 (fig. 4) correct (Fig. 4)

Table 1 Maximal recorded correct Maximal recorded

References 30 please write the full adresses

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

 

thank you very much for your very helpful comments.

We improved the mansucript according to your points to be corrected. The english langauge were also improved with the help of our native speaker and co-author Mr. Conor McGrath.

Kind regards,

 

Anne Arnold