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Data from: Conspecific semiochemical tracks on host plants modulate reproduction and defense in <em>Parthenium</em> beetles
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Transcriptome and Metabolome Reprogramming in Tomato Plants by Trichoderma Harzianum strain T22 Primes and Enhances Defense Responses Against Aphids
<p><strong>Figure 1</strong></p> <p>Effect of <em>T. harzianum</em> T22 on aphid survival over time. Survival curves (percentage) of <em>M. euphorbiae</em> reared on the untreated water control and the <em>T. harzianum</em> T22 treated tomato plants are significantly different, <em>p</em> < 0.05 (LogRank test).</p> <p>For the aphid longevity assay, 10 plants for each CTRL or T22 treatment were infested with 5 newly born first instar nymphs of <em>M. euphorbiae</em>. The presence of aphids and of shed exuviae, as an indicator of molting occurrence, was daily monitored. Survival curves were compared by LogRank analysis.</p>
Host plant defense produces species-specific alterations to flight muscle protein structure and flight-related fitness traits of two armyworms
<p>Insects manifest phenotypic plasticity in their development and behavior in response to plant defenses, via molecular mechanisms that produce tissue-specific changes. Phenotypic changes might vary between species that differ in their preferred hosts and these effects could extend beyond larval stages. To test this, we manipulated the diet of southern armyworm (SAW; Spodoptera eridania) and fall armyworm (FAW; Spodoptera frugiperda) using a tomatomutant for jasmonic acid plant defense pathway (def1), and wild-type plants, and then quantified gene expression of Troponin t (Tnt) and flight muscle metabolism of the<br> adult insects. Differences in Tnt spliceform ratios in insect flight muscles correlate with changes to flight muscle metabolism and flight<br> muscle output. We found that SAW adults reared on induced def1 plants had a higher relative abundance (RA) of the A isoform of Troponin t (Tnt A) in their flight muscles; in contrast, FAW adults reared on induced def1 plants had a lower RA of Tnt A in their flight muscles compared with adults reared on def1 and controls. Although massadjusted flightmetabolic rate showed no independent host plant effects in either species, higher flight metabolic rates in SAW correlated with increased RA of Tnt A. Flight muscle metabolism also showed an interaction of host plants with Tnt A in both species, suggesting that host plants might be influencing flight muscle metabolic output by altering Tnt. This study illustrates how insects respond to variation in host plant chemical defense by phenotypic modifications to their flight muscle proteins, with possible implications for dispersal.</p>
Olfactory perception of herbivore‐induced plant volatiles elicits counter‐defenses in larvae of the tobacco cutworm
<ol> <li>Herbivore attack leads to increased emission of herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) that protect plants by eliciting direct anti-herbivore defenses and indirect defenses via attraction of natural enemies. Whether herbivorous insects can develop counter-defenses against host plants in response to HIPVs is largely unexplored.</li> <li>Using a directed airflow apparatus, we investigated the influence of HIPVs emitted from tobacco cutworm (<i>Spodoptera litura</i><span>)</span>-infested tomatoes on larval performance on herbivore-pretreated tomatoes vs. untreated tomatoes or on trypsin inhibitor-amended artificial diets vs. unamended diets, as well as the transcriptional responses of HIPV-exposed larvae.</li> <li> <i>S. litura</i> larval<i> </i>feeding on tomato plants led to increased emission of HIPVs. The HIPV-exposed larvae showed significantly increased survival rates and weight gains on both herbivore-pretreated tomato leaves and trypsin inhibitor-supplemented diet but not on untreated tomato leaves and control diets, nor when they had been exposed to HIPVs emitted from <i>spr8</i> mutant plants which barely emit terpenes. These results suggest that larval exposure to HIPVs from wild-type plants enhanced their ability to cope with plant induced defenses. The latter is supported by the observation that larval exposure to HIPVs led to enhanced transcript levels of eight genes encoding cuticle proteins, and seven genes encoding cytochrome P450s, an important class of detoxification enzymes<i>.</i> </li> <li>Our studies revealed a mechanism by which larval olfactory perception of HIPVs elicits counter-defenses that enhance the ability of insect herbivores to withstand host plant chemical defenses.</li> </ol>
Data from: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi mediate herbivore-induction of plant defenses differently above and belowground
Plants are exposed to herbivores and symbionts above and belowground. Herbivores aboveground alter plant defenses in both leaves and roots, affecting plant-herbivore interactions above and belowground. Root symbionts, such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), also influence the defenses of leaves and roots, and alter plant responses to herbivory. However, we lack an understanding of how AMF mediate plant responses to herbivores simultaneously in above and belowground plant tissues, despite the ubiquity of such interactions and their consequences for ecological communities. In a full factorial experiment, we subjected plants of four milkweed (Asclepias) species under three levels of AMF inoculum availability to damage by aphids (Aphis nerii), caterpillars (Danaus plexippus), or no herbivores. We then measured foliar and root cardenolides (chemical defenses), leaf toughness, latex exudation (physical defenses), foliar carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous concentrations, plant biomass, and levels of AMF colonization of roots. Plants inoculated with AMF generally produced tougher leaves with higher cardenolide concentrations than did plants without AMF. In contrast, root cardenolides were altered by AMF inoculum availability in a plant species-specific manner. The relative induction or suppression of foliar cardenolides and leaf toughness by herbivores was altered strongly by the level of AMF inoculum available to plants. However, AMF did not influence caterpillar-induction or aphid-suppression of root cardenolides. In addition, herbivore feeding induced substantial changes in levels of AMF colonization of roots in a plant species-specific manner. We demonstrate that the availability of AMF in soil alters herbivore induction and suppression of plant defenses strongly, and does so differently in above and belowground plant tissues. Furthermore, we show that herbivore feeding alters levels of AMF colonization substantially, completing a feedback loop between above and belowground organisms. Our study suggests that indirect interactions between AMF and herbivores may have community-wide consequences by altering plant phenotype both above and belowground.
Data from: Relaxation of herbivore-mediated selection drives the evolution of genetic covariances between plant competitive and defense traits
Insect herbivores are important mediators of selection on traits that impact plant defense against herbivory and competitive ability. Although recent experiments demonstrate a central role for herbivory in driving rapid evolution of defense and competition-mediating traits, whether and how herbivory shapes heritable variation in these traits remains poorly understood. Here, we evaluate the structure and evolutionary stability of the G matrix for plant metabolites that are involved in defense and allelopathy in the tall goldenrod, Solidago altissima. We show that G has evolutionarily diverged between experimentally-replicated populations that evolved in the presence versus the absence of ambient herbivory, providing direct evidence for the evolution of G by natural selection. Specifically, evolution in an herbivore-free habitat altered the orientation of G, revealing a negative genetic covariation between defense- and competition-related metabolites that is typically masked in herbivore-exposed populations. Our results may be explained by predictions of classical quantitative genetic theory, as well as the theory of acquisition-allocation trade-offs. The study provides compelling evidence that herbivory drives the evolution of plant genetic architecture.
Data from: The ontogeny of plant defense and herbivory: characterizing general patterns using meta-analysis
Defense against herbivores often changes dramatically as plants develop. Hypotheses based on allocation theory and herbivore selection patterns predict that defense should either increase or decrease, respectively, across ontogeny, and previous research partly supports both predictions. Thus, it remains unclear which pattern is more common and what factors contribute to variability among studies. We conducted a meta-analysis of 116 published studies reporting ontogenetic patterns in plant defense traits and herbivory. Patterns varied depending on plant life form (woody, herbaceous, grass), type of herbivore (insect, mollusk, mammal), and type of defense trait (secondary chemistry, physical defense, tolerance). In woody plants, chemical defense increased during the seedling stage, followed by an increase in physical defenses during the vegetative juvenile stage. Mammalian herbivores showed a strong preference for mature compared to juvenile tissues in woody plants. Herbs experienced a significant increase in secondary chemistry across the entire ontogenetic trajectory, although the magnitude of increase was greatest during the seedling stage. Correspondingly, mollusks preferred young compared to older herbs. Future research investigating growth/defense trade-offs, allometry, herbivore selection patterns, and ecological costs, would shed light on the mechanisms driving the ontogenetic patterns observed.
Data from: Evolution of plant growth and defense in a continental introduction
Substantial research has addressed adaptation of nonnative biota to novel environments, yet surprisingly little work has integrated population genetic structure and the mechanisms underlying phenotypic differentiation in ecologically important traits. We report on studies of the common milkweed Asclepias syriaca, which was introduced from North America to Europe over the past 400 years and which lacks most of its specialized herbivores in the introduced range. Using 10 populations from each continent grown in a common environment, we identified several growth and defense traits that have diverged, despite low neutral genetic differentiation between continents. We next developed a Bayesian modeling approach to account for relationships between molecular and phenotypic differences, confirming that continental trait differentiation was greater than expected from neutral genetic differentiation. We found evidence that growth-related traits adaptively diverged within and between continents. Inducible defenses triggered by monarch butterfly herbivory were substantially reduced in European populations, and this reduction in inducibility was concordant with altered phytohormonal dynamics, reduced plant growth, and a trade-off with constitutive investment. Freedom from the community of native and specialized herbivores may have favored constitutive over induced defense. Our replicated analysis of plant growth and defense, including phenotypically plastic traits, suggests adaptive evolution following a continental introduction.
Data from: A free lunch? No cost for acquiring defensive plant pyrrolizidine alkaloids in a specialist arctiid moth (Utetheisa ornatrix)
Many herbivorous insects sequester defensive chemicals from their host plants. We tested sequestration fitness costs in the specialist moth Utetheisa ornatrix (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae). We added pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) to an artificial diet at different concentrations. Of all the larval and adult fitness components measured, only development time was negatively affected by PA concentration. These results were repeated under stressful laboratory conditions. On the other hand, the amount of PAs sequestered greatly increased with the diet PA concentration. Absence of a detectable negative effect does not necessarily imply a lack of costs if all individuals express the biochemical machinery of detoxification and sequestration constitutively. Therefore, we used qPCR to show that expression of the gene used to detoxify PAs, pyrrolizidine-alkaloid-N-oxygenase (pno), increased 41-fold in our highest PA treatment. Nevertheless, fitness components were affected only slightly or not at all, suggesting that sequestration in this species does not incur a strong cost. The apparent lack of costs has important implications for our understanding of the evolution of ecological interactions; for example, it implies that selection by specialist herbivores may decrease the levels of certain chemical defense in plant populations.
Data from: Effect of cadmium accumulation on the performance of plants and of herbivores that cope differently with organic defenses
Some plants are able to accumulate in their shoots metals at levels that are toxic to most other organisms. This ability may serve as a defence against herbivores. Therefore, both metal-based and organic defences may affect herbivores. However, how metal accumulation affects the interaction between herbivores and organic plant defences remains overlooked. To fill this gap, we studied the interactions between tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), a model plant that accumulates cadmium, and two spidermite species, Tetranychus urticae and Tetranychus evansi that, respectively, induce and suppress organic plant defences, measurable via the activity of trypsin inhibitors. We exposed plants to different concentrations of cadmium and measured its effects on mites and plants. In the plant, despite clear evidence for cadmium accumulation, we did not detect any cadmium effects on traits that reflect the general response of the plant, such as biomass, water content, and carbon/nitrogen ratio. Still, we found effects of cadmium upon the quantity of soluble sugars and on leaf reflectance, where it may indicate structural modifications in the cells. These changes in plant traits affected the performance of spider mites feeding on those plants. Indeed, the oviposition of both spider mite species was higher on plants exposed to low concentrations of cadmium than on control plants, but decreased at concentrations above 0.5 mM. Therefore, herbivores with contrasting responses to organic defences showed a similar hormetic response to metal accumulation by the plants. Additionally, we show that the induction and suppression of plant defences by these spider-mite species was not affected by the amount of cadmium supplied to the plants. Furthermore, the effect of cadmium on the performance of spider mites was not altered by infestation with T. urticae or T. evansi. Together, our results suggest no interaction between cadmium-based and organic plant defences, on our system. This character may be useful for plants living in heterogeneous environments, as they may use one or the other defence mechanism, depending on their relative performance in each environment.
Data from: Combined effects of mutualistic rhizobacteria counteract virus-induced suppression of indirect plant defenses in soybean
It is increasingly clear that microbial plant symbionts can influence interactions between their plant hosts and other organisms. Yet, such effects remain poorly understood, particularly under ecologically realistic conditions where plants simultaneously interact with diverse mutualists and antagonists. Here we examine how the effects of a plant virus on indirect plant defenses against its insect vector are influenced by co-occurrence of other microbial plant symbionts. Using a multi-factorial design, we manipulated colonization of soybean using three different microbes: a pathogenic plant virus (Bean pod mottle virus [BPMV]), a nodule-forming beneficial rhizobacterium (Bradyrhizobium japonicum), and a plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR) (Delftia acidovorans). We then assessed recruitment of parasitoids (Pediobious foveolatus [Eulophidae]) and parasitism rates following feeding by the BPMV vector Epilachna varivestis (Coccinellidae). BPMV infection suppressed parasitoid recruitment, prolonged parasitoid foraging time, and reduced parasitism rates in semi-natural foraging assays. However, simultaneous colonization of BPMV-infected hosts by both rhizobacteria restored parasitoid recruitment and rates of parasitism to levels similar to uninfected controls. Co-colonization by the two rhizobacteria also enhanced parasitoid recruitment in the absence of BPMV infection. These results illustrate the potential of plant-associated microbes to influence indirect plant defenses, with implications for disease transmission and herbivory, but also highlight the potential complexity of such interactions.
Plant defense resistance in natural enemies of a specialist insect herbivore
<p class="AbstractSummary"><span>Plants defend themselves against herbivores through the production of toxic and deterrent metabolites. Adapted herbivores can tolerate and sometimes sequester these metabolites, allowing them to feed on defended plants and become toxic to their own enemies. Can herbivore natural enemies overcome sequestered plant defense metabolites to prey on adapted herbivores? To address this question, we studied how entomopathogenic nematodes cope with benzoxazinoid defense metabolites that are produced by grasses and sequestered by a specialist maize herbivore, the western corn rootworm. We find that nematodes from US maize fields in regions in which the western corn rootworm was present over the last 50 years are behaviorally and metabolically resistant to sequestered benzoxazinoids and more infective towards the western corn rootworm than nematodes from other parts of the world. Exposure of a benzoxazinoid-susceptible nematode strain to the western corn rootworm for five generations results in higher behavioral and metabolic resistance and benzoxazinoid-dependent infectivity towards the western corn rootworm. Thus, herbivores that are exposed to a plant defense sequestering herbivore can evolve both behavioral and metabolic resistance to plant defense metabolites, and these traits are associated with higher infectivity towards a defense sequestering herbivore. We conclude that plant defense metabolites that are transferred through adapted herbivores may result in the evolution of resistance in herbivore natural enemies. Our study also identifies plant defense resistance as a potential target for the improvement of biological control agents. </span></p>
Data from: Testing the plant growth-defense hypothesis belowground: do faster-growing herbaceous plant species suffer more negative effects from soil biota than slower-growing ones?
According to the growth-defense hypothesis in ecology, faster-growing plant species should suffer more from herbivores and pathogens than slower-growing species. Tests of this hypothesis have focused on aboveground plant tissues, herbivores, and pathogens; however, it should also apply to root defense. To test whether faster-growing species suffer more negatively from soil biota than slower-growing species, we estimated first-season growth rates of 34 herbaceous plant species and used weighted linear regressions to assess the relationship between growth rates and responses to being grown in sterilized versus unsterilized soil (biotic soil effects) and to growing in soil previously occupied by conspecifics versus a mixture of species (conspecific soil effects). We found a negative relationship between relative growth rate and biotic soil effects, with slower-growing species tending to suffer less or even benefit from the presence of soil biota, while faster-growing species were more negatively affected. Biotic soil effects were also negatively related to size-corrected growth rates. These relationships remained negative after accounting for influential species, but a large amount of variation remained unexplained. Moreover, there was no clear relationship between growth rates and conspecific soil effects. A simple relationship between growth and defense aboveground may not be so clearly reflected belowground because of the many interacting antagonistic and mutualistic organisms likely involved.
Data from: A below ground herbivore shapes root defensive chemistry in natural plant populations
Plants display extensive intraspecific variation in secondary metabolites. However, the selective forces shaping this diversity remain often unknown, especially below ground. Using Taraxacum officinale and its major native insect root herbivore Melolontha melolontha, we tested whether below ground herbivores drive intraspecific variation in root secondary metabolites. We found that high M. melolontha infestation levels over the last decades are associated with high concentrations of major root latex secondary metabolites across 21 central European T. officinale field populations. By cultivating offspring of these populations, we show that both heritable variation and phenotypic plasticity contribute to the observed differences. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the production of the sesquiterpene lactone taraxinic acid β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (TA-G) is costly in the absence, but beneficial in the presence of M. melolontha, resulting in divergent selection of TA-G. Our results highlight the role of soil-dwelling insects for the evolution of plant defences in nature.
Data from: Species-specific plant–soil feedbacks alter herbivore-induced gene expression and defense chemistry in Plantago lanceolata
Plants actively interact with antagonists and beneficial organisms occurring in the above- and belowground domains of terrestrial ecosystems. In the past decade, studies have focused on the role of plant–soil feedbacks (PSF) in a broad range of ecological processes. However, PSF and its legacy effects on plant defense traits, such as induction of defense-related genes and production of defensive secondary metabolites, have not received much attention. Here, we study soil legacy effects created by twelve common grassland plant species on the induction of four defense-related genes, involved in jasmonic acid signaling, related to chewing herbivore defense (LOX2, PPO7), and in salicylic acid signaling, related to pathogen defense (PR1 and PR2) in Plantago lanceolata in response to aboveground herbivory by Mamestra brassicae. We also assessed soil legacy and herbivory effects on the production of terpenoid defense compounds (the iridoid glycosides aucubin and catalpol) in P. lanceolata. Our results show that both soil legacy and herbivory influence phenotypes of P. lanceolata in terms of induction of Pl PPO7 and Pl LOX2, whereas the expression of Pl PR1 and Pl PR2-1 is not affected by soil legacies, nor by herbivory. We also find species-specific soil legacy effects on the production of aucubin. Moreover, P. lanceolata accumulates more catalpol when they are grown in soils conditioned by grass species. Our study highlights that PSF can influence aboveground plant–insect interactions through the impacts on plant defense traits and suggests that aboveground plant defense responses can be determined, at least partly, by plant-specific legacy effects induced by belowground organisms.
Data from:Differential induction of plant chemical defenses by parasitized and unparasitized herbivores: consequences for reciprocal, multitrophic interactions
Insect parasitoids can play ecologically important roles in virtually all terrestrial plant–insect herbivore interactions, yet whether parasitoids alter the defensive traits that underlie interactions between plants and their herbivores remains a largely unexplored question. Here, we examined the reciprocal trophic interactions among populations of the wild cabbage Brassica oleracea that vary greatly in their production of defensive secondary compounds – glucosinolates (GSs), a generalist herbivore, Trichoplusia ni, and its polyembryonic parasitoid Copidosoma floridanum. In a greenhouse environment, plants were exposed to either healthy (unparasitized), parasitized, or no herbivores. Feeding damage by herbivores induced higher levels of the indole GSs, glucobrassicin and neoglucobrassicin, but not any of the other measured GSs. Herbivores parasitized by C. floridanum induced cabbage plants to produce 1.5 times more indole GSs than levels induced by healthy T. ni and five times more than uninduced plants. As a gregarious endoparasitoid, C. floridanum causes its host T. ni to feed more than unparasitized herbivores resulting in increased induction of indole GSs. In turn, herbivore fitness parameters (including differential effects on male and female contributions to lifetime fecundity in the herbivore) were negatively correlated with the aliphatic GSs, sinigrin and gluconapin, whereas parasitoid fitness parameters were negatively correlated with the indole GSs, glucobrassicin and neoglucobrassicin. That herbivores and their parasitoids appear to be affected by different sets of GSs was unexpected given the intimate developmental associations between host and parasitoid. This study is the first to demonstrate that parasitoids, through increasing feeding by their herbivorous hosts, can induce higher levels of non-volatile plant chemical defenses. While parasitoids are widely recognized to be ubiquitous in most terrestrial insect herbivore communities, their role in influencing plant–insect herbivore relationships is still vastly underappreciated.
Data from: Shifts in woody plant defense syndromes during leaf development
1. Herbivores target young leaves in forests worldwide. How this strong and predictable selection pressure has shaped plant defense syndromes remains unclear. Specifically, whether young leaf herbivory has led to general global patterns of shifting leaf defences during lead development (i.e. ontogenetic trajectories) remains unknown but likely. 2. Using meta-analysis, we have synthesized developmental shifts in chemical, physical, and indirect defence traits, as well as leaf nutrient content, during leaf expansion and maturation across 124 woody plant species. Leaf traits were compared for immature young leaves versus mature leaves within studies, and these developmental shifts were then compared across studies to characterize general patterns. 3. Traits shifted strongly during leaf maturation, giving rise to discrete defence syndromes, with young leaves having significantly greater nutrient and secondary chemistry concentrations but reduced toughness and indirect defence traits than mature leaves. These patterns corroborate a growing consensus on the importance of ontogeny in plant defences, illustrating ontogenetic trajectories at the scale of leaves. 4. Trait developmental shifts were stronger in species with synchronous than asynchronous leaf flushing, but whether this reflects variation across biomes remains unclear. 5. Future research on under-studied traits, such as alkaloids, cyanogenesis, leaf phosphorus content, and indirect defence traits, and in a more biogeographic context will provide additional insights into the generality of shifts in defence syndromes during leaf development.
Data from: Constitutive and herbivore-induced plant defenses regulate herbivore population growth
1. Induced plant defenses regulated by the phytohormones jasmonic acid and salicylic acid are predicted to influence herbivore population dynamics, in part because they can operate in a density-dependent manner. While there is ample evidence that induced plant responses affect individual performance and growth of herbivores, whether they scale-up to regulate herbivore population dynamics is still unclear. 2. We evaluated the consequences of variation in plant defenses and herbivore density on herbivore development, reproduction and density-dependent population growth. We investigated potential mechanisms affecting the strength of herbivore density-dependent processes by manipulating jasmonate expression, quantifying plant defensive traits (phytohormones jasmonic acid and salicylic acid and serine proteinase inhibitors) and adding aphids (Macrosiphum euphorbiae) at different densities to plants to simulate different initial population density and herbivore load. We manipulated jasmonate defenses by using genetically modified lines of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum) with elevated or suppressed jasmonate-dependent defenses. Jasmonate-insensitive plants cannot induce the jasmonic acid pathway, while jasmonate-overexpressing plants constitutively express jasmonate-dependent defenses. 3. We found that jasmonate defenses provided resistance against aphids and influenced density-dependent processes. Jasmonate-overexpressing plants reduced aphid reproduction, prolonged developmental time, dampened aphid populations across all aphid densities, and caused density-independent aphid population growth. Aphid feeding on jasmonate-overexpressing plants did not activate the salicylic acid pathway, thus on this plant line jasmonate defenses affected aphid responses. In contrast, jasmonate-insensitive plants increased aphid reproduction, shortened the developmental time, reduced population growth only at high initial densities, and promoted strong negative density-dependent population growth. Aphid feeding on jasmonate-insensitive plants did not induce jasmonate-dependent defenses, but induced the salicylic acid pathway in a density-dependent manner, which resulted in negative density-dependent aphid population growth. 4. Aphid feeding on jasmonate-insensitive and overexpressing plant differentially activated the salicylate pathway, revealing a negative crosstalk between the defensive phytohormones jasmonic acid and salicylic acid. By muting or enhancing jasmonate-mediated responses and quantifying salicylic acid phytohormone induction, we demonstrated that plant defenses are a key factor driving not only the performance, but also the density dependence processes of herbivore populations.
Data from: The genetics of phenotypic plasticity in plant defense: trichome production in Mimulus guttatus
Insect herbivory is a major driving force of plant evolution. Phenotypic plasticity and developmental variation provide a means for plants to cope with variable herbivory. We characterized the genetics of developmental variation and phenotypic plasticity in trichome density, a putative defensive trait of Mimulus guttatus (yellow monkeyflower). Our results are evaluated in relation to the optimal defense theory, which provides testable predictions for plastic and developmental patterns in defense traits. We found that both developmental stage and simulated insect damage affected trichome production, but in different ways. Plants were more likely to produce at least some trichomes on later leaves than on earlier leaves, regardless of damage. Damage did not affect the average probability of producing trichomes, but it did increase the density of hairs on trichome‐positive plants. We mapped trichome quantitative trait loci (QTL) by selectively genotyping a large panel of recombinant inbred lines derived from two highly divergent populations. Several highly pleiotropic QTL influenced multiple aspects of the trichome phenotype (constitutive, developmental, and/or plastic responses). Only one of the QTL influenced trichome induction following damage. In a result that is consistent with a central prediction of optimal defense theory, the high allele at this location was from the ancestral population with low constitutive trichome production.
Data from: Defensive chemicals of neighboring plants limit visits of herbivorous insects: associational resistance within a plant population
Despite our understanding of chemical defenses and their consequences for plant performance and herbivores, we know little about whether defensive chemicals in plant tissues, such as alkaloids, and their spatial variation within a population play unappreciated and critical roles in plant-herbivore interactions. Neighboring plants can decrease or increase attractiveness of a plant to herbivores, an example of a neighborhood effect. Chemical defensive traits may contribute to neighborhood effects in plant-herbivore interactions. We examined the effects of nicotine in leaves (a non-emitted defense chemical) on plant-herbivore interactions in a spatial context, using two varieties of <i>Nicotiana tabacum</i> with different nicotine levels. A common garden experiment demonstrated that visits by grasshoppers decreased with increasing density of neighboring plants with a greater nicotine level. In contrast, visits of leaf caterpillars were not affected by neighbors, irrespective of nicotine levels. Thus, our results clearly highlighted that the neighborhood effect caused by the nicotine in leaves depended on the insect identity, and it was mediated by plant-herbivore interactions, rather than plant-plant interactions. This study demonstrates that understanding of effects of plant defensive traits on plant-herbivore interactions requires careful consideration of the spatial distribution of plant defenses, and provides support for the importance of spatial context to accurately capture the ecological and evolutionary consequences of plant-herbivore interactions.
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