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1,187 results for “herbivores”
Genomic and chemical evidence for local adaptation in resistance to different herbivores in Datura stramonium
<p>Since most species are collections of genetically variable populations distributed to habitats differing in their abiotic/biotic environmental factors and community composition, the pattern and strength of natural selection imposed by species on each others' traits are also expected to be highly spatially variable. Here, we used genomic and quantitative genetic approaches to understand how spatially variable selection operates on the genetic basis of plant defenses to herbivores. To this end, an F2 progeny was generated by crossing Datura stramonium (Solanaceae) parents from two populations differing in their level of chemical defense. This F2 progeny was reciprocally transplanted into the parental plants' habitats and by measuring the Identity by Descent (IBD) relationship of each F2 plant to each parent, we were able to elucidate how spatially variable selection imposed by herbivores operated on the genetic background (IBD) of resistance to herbivory, promoting local adaptation. The results highlight that plants possessing the highest total alkaloid concentrations (sum of all alkaloid classes) were not the most well-defended or fit. Instead, specific alkaloids and their linked loci/alleles were favored by selection imposed by different herbivores. This has led to population differentiation in plant defenses and thus, to local adaptation driven by plant-herbivore interactions.</p>
How nitrogen and phosphorus supply to nutrient-limited autotroph communities affects herbivore growth: testing stoichiometric and co-limitation theory across trophic levels
<p><span>Primary producer communities are often growth-limited by essential nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). The magnitude of </span><span>limitation and whether N, P, or both elements are limiting autotroph </span><span>growth depends on the supply and ratios of these essential nutrients. </span><span>Previous studies identified single, serial or co-limitation as predominant </span><span>limitation outcomes in autotroph communities by factorial nutrient </span><span>additions. Little is known about potential consequences of such scenarios </span><span>for herbivores and whether their growth is primarily affected by changes </span><span>in autotroph quantity or nutritional quality. We grew a community of </span><span>phytoplankton species differing in various food quality aspects in </span><span>experimental microcosms at varying N and P concentrations resulting in </span><span>three different N:P ratios. At carrying capacity, N, P, both nutrients or </span><span>none were added to reveal which nutrients were limiting. The nutrient supplied </span><span>communities were fed to the generalist herbivorous rotifer </span><span>Brachionus calyciflorus to investigate how changing phytoplankton </span><span>biomass and community composition affect herbivore abundance. We </span><span>found phytoplankton being growth-limited either by N alone (single </span><span>limitation) or serially, i.e. primarily by N and secondarily by P, altering </span><span>available food quantity for rotifers. Rotifer growth showed a different </span><span>response pattern compared to phytoplankton, suggesting that apart from </span><span>food quantity food quality aspects played a substantial role in the </span><span>transfer from primary to secondary production. The combined addition of </span><span>N and P to phytoplankton had generally a positive effect on herbivore </span><span>growth, whereas adding non-limiting nutrients had a rather detrimental </span><span>effect probably due to stoichiometrically imbalanced food in terms of </span><span>nutrient excess. Our experiment shows that adding various nutrients to </span><span>primary producer communities will not always lead to increased </span><span>autotroph and herbivore growth, and that differences between autotroph </span><span>and herbivore responses under co-limiting conditions can be partly well </span><span>explained by concepts of ecological stoichiometry theory.</span></p>
Great tits (Parus major) flexibly learn that herbivore-induced plant volatiles indicate prey location – an experimental evidence with two tree species
<p>1. When searching for food, great tits (Parus major) can use herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) as an indicator of arthropod presence. Their ability to detect HIPVs was shown to be learned, and not innate, yet the flexibility and generalization of learning remains unclear. 2. We studied if, and if so how, naïve and trained great tits (Parus major) discriminate between herbivore-induced and non-induced saplings of Scotch elm (Ulmus glabra) and cattley guava (Psidium cattleyanum). We chemically analysed the used plants and showed that their HIPVs differed significantly and overlapped only in a few compounds. 3. Birds trained to discriminate between herbivore-induced and non-induced saplings preferred the herbivore-induced saplings of the plant species they were trained to. Naïve birds did not show any preferences. Our results indicate that the attraction of great tits to herbivore-induced plants is not innate, rather it is a skill that can be acquired through learning, one tree species at a time. 4. We demonstrate that the ability to learn to associate HIPVs with food reward is flexible, expressed to both tested plant species, even if the plant species has not coevolved with the bird species (i.e. guava). Our results imply that the birds are not capable of generalising HIPVs among tree species but suggest that they either learn to detect individual compounds or associate whole bouquets with food rewards.</p>
Data collected for: The contrasted impacts of grasshoppers on soil microbial activities in function of ecosystem productivity and herbivore diet
<p>Herbivory can have contrasted impacts on soil microbes and nutrient cycling, which has stimulated the development of conceptual frameworks exploring the links between below- and aboveground processes. The "productivity model" predicts that herbivores stimulate microbial activities and accelerate nutrient mineralization in productive ecosystems, while they have an opposite effect in less productive ecosystems. In parallel, the "diet model" predicts that herbivores feeding on conservative plants accelerate nutrient cycling while those feeding on exploitative plants decelerate nutrient cycling, due to changes in litter inputs. Since these two frameworks can lead to conflicting predictions in some cases, experimental evidence combining herbivore diet and productivity is required.</p> <p>During two consecutive years, we conducted an experiment controlling the presence of three grasshopper species consuming either grasses, forbs or both in twelve natural and managed alpine grasslands of contrasted productivities. In order to assess the effects of herbivory on soil microbes, we measured their enzymatic activities, their biomass and the soil potential nitrogen mineralization (PNM). Soil and vegetation characteristics were also determined in order to test if they modulated the effects of herbivory on microbes.</p> <p>Contrary to the predictions of the diet model, the effects of herbivory on microbial characteristics did not depend on the herbivores diet but relied on ecosystem productivity. The most productive sites were characterized by exploitative plant species which depleted N resources in the soil, and by microbes producing relatively few extracellular enzymes, leading to a lower PNM. Herbivory increased microbial biomass and decreased the production of extracellular enzymes in those sites, possibly through the stimulation of root exudates produced by exploitative species. The least productive sites were characterized by conservative plants, which led to the sequestration of soil C, and by microbes having a resource acquisition strategy (more extracellular enzymes, higher PNM). Herbivory decreased microbial biomass and increased the production of extracellular enzymes in those sites. This pattern can be explained by the loss of carbon associated with insect respiration, which increases the need for microbes to acquire resources and by a lower production of root exudates by conservative species. Therefore, the effects of two years of herbivory on soil microbes were at odds with the productivity model, which focuses instead on longer term effects corresponding to herbivory-induced changes in plant species composition. This highlights the multidimensional feature of the impacts of herbivory on ecosystem functioning, both in space and time.</p>
Complex plant quality - microbiota - population interactions modulate the response of a specialist herbivore to the defense of its host plant.
<p>1. Many specialist herbivores have evolved strategies to cope with plant defenses, with gut microbiota potentially participating to such adaptations.</p> <p>2. In this study we assessed whether the history of plant use (population origin) and microbiota may interact with plant defense adaptation.</p> <p>3. We tested whether microbiota enhance the performance of <em>Melitaea cinxia </em>larvae on their host plant, <em>Plantago lanceolata</em> and increase their ability to cope the defensive compounds, iridoid glycosides (IGs).</p> <p>3. The gut microbiota was significantly affected by both larval population origin and host plant IG level. Contrary to our prediction, impoverishing the microbiota with antibiotic treatment did not reduce larval performance.</p> <p>5. As expected for this specialized insect herbivore, sequestration of one of IGs was higher in larvae fed with plants producing higher concentration of IGs. These larvae also showed metabolic signature of intoxication (<em>i.e. </em>decrease in Lysine levels). However, intoxication on highly defended plants was only observed when larvae with history of poorly defended plants were simultaneously treated with antibiotics.</p> <p>6. Our results suggest that both adaptation and microbiota contribute to the metabolic response of herbivores to plant defense though complex interactions.</p>
Low water availability enhances volatile-mediated direct defenses but disturbs indirect defenses against herbivores
<p>1. Interactions between plants and natural enemies of insect herbivores influence plant productivity and survival by reducing herbivory. Plants attract natural enemies via herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), but how water availability (WA) influences HIPV-mediated defenses is unclear. </p> <p>2. We use tomato (<em>Solanum lycopersicum</em>), tomato fruitworm (<em>Helicoverpa zea</em>), and two natural enemies, the parasitoid wasp (<em>Microplitis croceipes</em>) and the predator spined soldier bug (<em>Podisus maculiventris</em>), to investigate the effect of WA on HIPV emission dynamics and associated plant defense. </p> <p>3. We show that low WA initially increases total HIPV emission by tomatoes on the first day of herbivore exposure and, in contrast, reduces HIPV emission on the second day. Low WA enhances HIPVs that are mostly found in tomato trichomes. Notably, some volatiles inhibited by low WA are known attractants of natural enemies. Evidence from Y-tube and in-cage behavioral assays indicates that changes in HIPV emissions by low WA compromise the ability of tomato plants to attract natural enemies. </p> <p>4. Synthesis: Based on our results, we propose a hypothesis where plants respond to low WA by enhancing repellent HIPV emissions and reducing the emission of HIPVs that attract natural enemies, which disrupts natural enemy-mediated plant indirect defenses but enhances plant direct defense against herbivores.</p>
Livestock management promotes bush encroachment in savanna systems by altering plant-herbivore feedback
<p>This repository contains all code to reproduce the analysis in Koch et al. 2022 "Livestock management promotes bush encroachment in savanna systems by altering plant-herbivore feedback".</p> <p>We use a set of coupled differential equations to describe competition between shrubs and grasses, as well as plant biomass consumption via grazing and browsing. Grazers were assumed to receive a certain level of care from farmers, so that grazer densities emerge dynamically from the combined effect of vegetation abundance and farmer<br>support. Our main goal was to understand how critical transitions from grass-dominated to shrub-dominated system states were affected by the dynamic role of grazing.</p> <p>Our results show that bistability emerges for intermediate levels of farmer support due to positive feedback that arises from competition between shrubs and grasses and from herbivory. We furthermore demonstrate that disturbances, such as drought events, trigger abrupt transitions from the grass dominated to the shrub dominated state and that the system becomes more susceptible to disturbances with increasing farmer support.</p>
Data from: Grazing herbivores reduce herbaceous biomass and fire activity across African savannas
<p>Fire and herbivory interact to alter ecosystems and carbon cycling. In savannas, herbivores can reduce fire activity by removing grass biomass, but the size of these effects and what regulates them remain uncertain. To examine grazing effects on fuels and fire regimes across African savannas, we combined data from herbivore exclosure experiments with remotely sensed data on fire activity and herbivore density. We show that, broadly across African savannas, grazing herbivores substantially reduce both herbaceous biomass and fire activity. The size of these effects was strongly associated with grazing herbivore densities and, surprisingly, was mostly consistent across different environments. A one-zebra increase in herbivore biomass density (~100 kg/km<sup>2</sup> of metabolic biomass) resulted in a ~53 kg/ha reduction in standing herbaceous biomass and a ~0.43 percentage point reduction in burned area. Our results indicate that fire models can be improved by incorporating grazing effects on grass biomass.</p>
The role of sea hares as significant algal herbivores on the Southern Great Barrier Reef
<p>The data files are as follows:</p> <p>Other species - raw data on genera of algae (and some other organisms) observed in quadrats during our surveys at Heron Island</p> <p>algal.distribution.tabulated - summary data on the three most common algal genera used for chi-squared test.</p> <p>algal.dry.weights - data for trials aimed at establishing an equation to convert displacement volume of bundles of Laurencia to dry weights in grams</p> <p>algal.herbivory.trials - data from sea hare herbivory trials, including amount eaten each 24 hour trial and sea hare size.</p> <p>All data was collected by the primary researchers in the field.</p> <p>The R script to process these files is available here: https://github.com/rcrofts/SeaHareScript.git.</p> <p>These data were processed using RStudio version 1.2.5019 </p>
Agricultural landscape simplification affects wild plant fitness indirectly through herbivore-mediated changes in floral display
<p>As natural landscapes are modified and converted into simplified agricultural landscapes, the community composition and interactions of organisms persisting in these modified landscapes are altered. While many studies examine the consequences of these changing interactions for crops, few have evaluated the effects on wild plants. Here, we examine how pollinator and herbivore interactions affect fitness for wild resident and phytometer plants at sites along a landscape gradient ranging from natural to highly simplified. We tested the direct and indirect effects of landscape composition on plant traits and fitness mediated by insect interactions. For phytometer plants exposed to herbivores, we found that greater landscape complexity corresponded with elevated herbivore damage, which reduced total flower production but increased individual flower size. Though larger flowers increased pollination, the reduction in flowers ultimately reduced plant fitness. Herbivory was also higher in complex landscapes for resident plants, but overall damage was low and therefore did not have a cascading effect on floral display and fitness. This work highlights that landscape composition directly affects patterns of herbivory with cascading effects on pollination and wild plant fitness. Further, the absence of fitness consequences for resident plants suggests that they may be adapted to their local insect community. </p>
Fig. 3 in Response of two chemotypes of Melaleuca quinquenervia (Myrtales: Myrtaceae) saplings to colonization by specialist herbivores
Fig. 3. Total mean (± SE) leaf biomass shed via abscission by Melaleuca quinquenervia saplings subjected to unrestricted or restricted herbivory by Oxyops vitiosa and Boreioglycaspis melaleucae. **: P = 0.01.
Fig. 1 in Response of two chemotypes of Melaleuca quinquenervia (Myrtales: Myrtaceae) saplings to colonization by specialist herbivores
Fig. 1. Mean (± SE) dry weight biomass of leaves shed via abscission by saplings of 2 Melaleuca quinquenervia chemotypes subjected to 2 levels of herbivory by Oxyops vitiosa and Boreioglycaspis melaleucae.
Fig. 2 in Seasonal abundance of the adventive Chinese tallowtree herbivore Caloptilia triadicae (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) and its parasitoids
Fig. 2. Parasitoid species reared from larvae and pupae of Caloptilia triadicae feeding on Chinese tallow leaves in Florida.A. Sympiesis sp. female; B. Sympiesis sp. male (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae); C. Brasema sp. (Hymenoptera: Eupelmidae; D. Goniozus sp. (Hymenoptera:Bethylidae);E. Zagrammosoma multilineatum (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae); F. Euplectrus sp. or Platyplectrus sp. (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Horizontal scale bars represent 1 mm in A, B, and C and 0.5 mm in D, E, and F.
Fig. 1 in Seasonal abundance of the adventive Chinese tallowtree herbivore Caloptilia triadicae (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) and its parasitoids
Fig. 1. Caloptilia triadicae larval and pupal population dynamics (A) and per- centage of parasitism (B) from tallow grown in a garden in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Larvae and pupae were collected in leaf whorls.
Figure 3 in Potential interactions between herbivorous arthropods and of their natural enemies on Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae) trees
Figure 3 Relationship between the number of Sycophila sp. with those of Eurytoma sp. (A) and its globoid galls (B); that of Zelus armillatus with that of Eurytoma sp. groups of globoid galls (C); that of Ablerus magistretti with the length of Eurytoma sp. groups of globoid galls (D); number of Agistemus sp with that of Histiostoma sp. (E); percentage of leaflets with Eurytoma sp. globoid galls with the number of Sycophila sp. (F); that of Sycophila sp. with that of Holopothrips sp. (G); and that of Quadrastichus sp. with that of Holopothrips sp. (H) per 12 leaves on Caryocar brasiliense tree in three years. Montes Claros, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The symbols represent the averages. N = 45.
Figure 2 in Potential interactions between herbivorous arthropods and of their natural enemies on Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae) trees
Figure 2 Relationship between the number of Histiostoma sp. with those of Eutetranychus sp. (A), Eurytoma sp. adult (B) and Aphis gossypii (C); that of Eutetranychus sp. with those of Tetranychus sp.2 (D) and Eurytoma sp. (E); that of Tetranychus sp.1 with that of Eurytoma sp. globoid galls (F); that of Tetranychus sp.2 with that of Tetranychus sp.1 (G); and that of Acaridae with that of Histiostoma sp. per 12 leaves on Caryocar brasiliense tree in three years. Montes Claros, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The symbols represent the averages. N = 45.
Figure 4 in Potential interactions between herbivorous arthropods and of their natural enemies on Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae) trees
Figure 4 Relationship between the number of spiders with those of Eurytoma sp. (A) and its globoid galls (B) and Sycophila sp. (C); those of Eurytoma sp. groups of globoid galls (D), Chrysoperla sp. (E), and Aphis gossypii (F) with that of spiders; and that of Aphis gossypii with that of Chrysoperla sp. (G) per 12 leaves on Caryocar brasiliense tree in three years. Montes Claros, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The symbols represent the averages. N = 45.
Fig. 4 in Effect of light stress on Crotalaria spectabilis (Fabaceae) and on its herbivore insect, the moth Utetheisa ornatrix (Erebidae: Arctiinae)
Fig. 4. Weight of the pupae of Utetheisa ornatrix (L., 1758) whose larvae were raised with leaves of Crotalaria spectabilis Roth from light stressed plants and non-stressed plants. (A) male pupae; N = 30 for stressed plants and N = 18 for non-stressed plants. (B) female pupae; N = 19 for stressed plants and N = 28 for non-stressed plants. Different letters indicate statistical difference (t = -2.7531; p = 0.009).
Fig. 5 in Effect of light stress on Crotalaria spectabilis (Fabaceae) and on its herbivore insect, the moth Utetheisa ornatrix (Erebidae: Arctiinae)
Fig. 5. FecunditY of Utetheisa ornatrix (L., 1758) females whose larvae were reared on stressed and non-stressed leaves of Crotalaria spectabilis Roth. N = 18 for stressed plants and N = 15 for non-stressed plants.
Fig. 3 in Effect of light stress on Crotalaria spectabilis (Fabaceae) and on its herbivore insect, the moth Utetheisa ornatrix (Erebidae: Arctiinae)
Fig. 3. Development time of the larvae of Utetheisa ornatrix (L., 1758) reared with leaves of Crotalaria spectabilis Roth from light stressed plants and non-stressed plants. N = 49 for stressed plants and N = 46 for non-stressed plants. Different letters indicate statistical difference (t=2.27; p=0.02).
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Allen Brain Atlas
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International Brain Laboratory public data
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OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.