Attracting mutualists and antagonists: Plant trait variation explains the distribution of specialist floral herbivores and pollinators on crops and wild gourds

Theis, Nina; Barber, Nicholas A.; Gillespie, Sandra; Hazzard, Ruth; Adler, Lynn S.

doi:10.3732/ajb.1400171

Cited by 39 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…A comparison of twenty cucurbit species and varieties found increased A. vittatum visitation to plants with larger flowers that produced more sesquiterpenoids in their floral scent (Theis et al . ). In that study, sesquiterpenoids were the dominant class of compounds in the most fragrant varieties.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Because adult A. vittatum are sometimes found in flowers, and prior work has demonstrated that their attraction can be explained in part by floral volatiles (Theis et al . ), we also examined Pearson correlations between leaf herbivory and floral VOC traits using the August leaf damage measurements (because few plants were in bloom during the July damage measurements).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We collected fragrance on a glass cartridge packed with 100 mg of poropak, later eluted with hexane. We added the internal standard anisole to samples, which were concentrated under nitrogen and analysed with GC-MS following methods of Theis et al (2014). Peaks of each compound were identified based on mass spectra and retention times and quantified using the internal standard and standard curves.…”

Section: R E S P O N S E Smentioning

confidence: 99%

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Root herbivory indirectly affects above‐ and below‐ground community members and directly reduces plant performance

et al. 2015

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Summary There is a widespread recognition that above‐ and below‐ground organisms are linked through their interactions with host plants that span terrestrial subsystems. In addition to direct effects on plants, soil organisms such as root herbivores can indirectly alter interactions between plants and other community members, with potentially important effects on plant growth and fitness. We manipulated root herbivory by Acalymma vittatum in Cucumis sativus to determine indirect effects on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, leaf herbivory, the leaf pathogen downy mildew and pollinators. We also manipulated pollen receipt by plants to determine whether root herbivory reduced plant reproduction through changes in pollinator visitation. Overall, root herbivory had strong net negative effects on plant growth and fitness, with 34% reductions in both leaf and fruit production by high root damage levels relative to control, despite reduced infection by downy mildew. High root herbivory also reduced floral visitation by 39%, apparently due to lower flower production, as flower size and scent were unaffected. Above‐ground herbivory was not affected by root herbivores. Although root herbivory reduced pollinator visits, pollen receipt manipulations had no effect on fruit set, indicating that reduced pollinator service did not affect plant reproduction. Synthesis. Root herbivory had indirect effects on a range of community members, including mutualists and antagonists both above‐ and below‐ground. Although reduced pathogen infection associated with root herbivory would be expected to benefit plants, root herbivory had an overall strong negative effect on plant growth and reproduction, indicating that direct negative effects over‐rode any potential indirect benefits.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: R E S P O N S E Smentioning

confidence: 99%

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Root herbivory indirectly affects above‐ and below‐ground community members and directly reduces plant performance

et al. 2015

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“…This occurs because herbivores and pollinators often use many of the same cues to locate plants (Strauss & Whittall, ). For example, larger flowers (Theis, Barber, Gillespie, Hazzard, & Adler, ), floral displays (Brody & Mitchell, ) and plant volatiles (Theis & Adler, ) can all attract herbivores and lead to direct herbivore‐mediated selection on reproductive traits. Indirect selection by herbivores on reproductive traits can also occur when herbivores alter pollinator behaviour or influence patterns of resource allocation, thereby reducing plant investment in reproductive traits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herbivores and plant defences affect selection on plant reproductive traits more strongly than pollinators

Santangelo

Thompson

Johnson

2018

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Pollinators and herbivores can both affect the evolutionary diversification of plant reproductive traits. However, plant defences frequently alter antagonistic and mutualistic interactions, and therefore, variation in plant defences may alter patterns of herbivore‐ and pollinator‐mediated selection on plant traits. We tested this hypothesis by conducting a common garden field experiment using 50 clonal genotypes of white clover (Trifolium repens) that varied in a Mendelian‐inherited chemical antiherbivore defence—the production of hydrogen cyanide (HCN). To evaluate whether plant defences alter herbivore‐ and/or pollinator‐mediated selection, we factorially crossed chemical defence (25 cyanogenic and 25 acyanogenic genotypes), herbivore damage (herbivore suppression) and pollination (hand pollination). We found that herbivores weakened selection for increased inflorescence production, suggesting that large displays are costly in the presence of herbivores. In addition, herbivores weakened selection on flower size but only among acyanogenic plants, suggesting that plant defences reduce the strength of herbivore‐mediated selection. Pollinators did not independently affect selection on any trait, although pollinators weakened selection for later flowering among cyanogenic plants. Overall, cyanogenic plant defences consistently increased the strength of positive directional selection on reproductive traits. Herbivores and pollinators both strengthened and weakened the strength of selection on reproductive traits, although herbivores imposed ~2.7× stronger selection than pollinators across all traits. Contrary to the view that pollinators are the most important agents of selection on reproductive traits, our data show that selection on reproductive traits is driven primarily by variation in herbivory and plant defences in this system.

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“…Similar dynamics can occur with visual cues [48,49] for example the showy bracts of Dalechampia scandens are attractive to both pollinators and seed predators [48]. Balancing these potential costs of trade-offs from traits with multiple effects will be necessary for selecting appropriate crop breeding strategies [49].…”

Section: Attracting More Of Whatever Pollinators There Arementioning

confidence: 99%

How can an understanding of plant–pollinator interactions contribute to global food security?

Bailes

Ollerton

Pattrick

et al. 2015

Current Opinion in Plant Biology

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Pollination of crops by animals is an essential part of global food production, but evidence suggests that wild pollinator populations may be declining while a number of problems are besetting managed honey bee colonies. Animal-pollinated crops grown today, bred in an environment where pollination was less likely to limit fruit set, are often suboptimal in attracting and sustaining their pollinator populations. Research into plant-pollinator interactions is often conducted in a curiosity-driven, ecological framework, but may inform breeding and biotechnological approaches to enhance pollinator attraction and crop yield. In this article we review key topics in current plant-pollinator research that have potential roles in future crop breeding for enhanced global food security.

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Attracting mutualists and antagonists: Plant trait variation explains the distribution of specialist floral herbivores and pollinators on crops and wild gourds

Cited by 39 publications

References 57 publications

Root herbivory indirectly affects above‐ and below‐ground community members and directly reduces plant performance

Root herbivory indirectly affects above‐ and below‐ground community members and directly reduces plant performance

Herbivores and plant defences affect selection on plant reproductive traits more strongly than pollinators

How can an understanding of plant–pollinator interactions contribute to global food security?

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