Can genetically based clines in plant defence explain greater herbivory at higher latitudes?

Anstett, Daniel N.; Ahern, Jeffrey R.; Glinos, Julia; Nawar, Nabanita; Salminen, Juha‐Pekka; Johnson, Marc T. J.

doi:10.1111/ele.12532

Cited by 57 publications

(112 citation statements)

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“…; Anstett et al . ), we observed that they did not fully explain elevational gradients on the deployment of individual and simultaneous expression of constitutive direct and indirect defences and their inducibility. In particular, we found that after accounting for these factors in the multiple regressions, elevation still significantly predicted plant defence allocation in all analyses.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 61%

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The simultaneous inducibility of phytochemicals related to plant direct and indirect defences against herbivores is stronger at low elevation

et al. 2016

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1. Ecological theory indicates that warmer and more stable climates should result in stronger biotic interactions. Therefore, plant species growing at lower elevations and experiencing greater herbivore pressure should invest in higher levels of defences than those at higher elevations. Nonetheless, there are a number of studies that have found no effect of elevational gradients on plant defensive traits. Several factors might explain the lack of consistency for the altitude-defence relationships, including (i) the reduction of all defensive traits into one measure of resistance; (ii) not considering plant defence as the simultaneous expression of several defensive traits; and (iii) not considering the relative influence of biotic (e.g. herbivory) and abiotic (e.g. climate and soil conditions) factors associated with the ecological gradient.2. Here, we present a comprehensive test of the effects of elevation and its associated biotic and abiotic factors on the individual and simultaneous expression of constitutive direct and indirect defences and their inducibility (i.e. expression of defences after herbivore attack). Specifically, we estimated climatic and soil variables and measured herbivore damage and constitutive and jasmonic acid-induced glucosinolate levels in the leaves as a proxy for direct defences, and volatile emission as a proxy for indirect defences in 16 Cardamine species naturally growing along the steep elevational gradient of the Alps. 3. Within a phylogenetic comparative framework, we found that species growing at lower elevations invested more in the simultaneous inducibility of both direct and indirect defences, whereas species growing at higher elevations invested more in constitutive direct defences. Although we found strong elevational gradients in herbivory and climatic and soil variables, these biotic and abiotic factors only partially explained elevational patterns in plant defences. 4. Synthesis. These results highlight that the complex regulation of multiple defence traits strongly vary across elevational gradients and build towards a better understanding of the multiple mechanisms underlying trait evolution and species interactions along ecological gradients.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 61%

“…; Anstett et al . ; Lim, Fine & Mittelbach ). For instance, it has been observed that plant species at lower elevations, which should experience greater levels of herbivory, tend to invest more in defences (Scheidel & Bruelheide ; Zehnder et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The simultaneous inducibility of phytochemicals related to plant direct and indirect defences against herbivores is stronger at low elevation

et al. 2016

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“…This approach is commonly used to study plant–herbivore interactions (Pennings and Silliman , Salgado and Pennings , Anstett et al. , , Baskett and Schemske ), but has found mixed support for the biotic interactions hypothesis (Moles et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple metrics of latitudinal patterns in insect pollination and herbivory for a tropical‐temperate congener pair

Baskett

Schroeder

Weber

et al. 2020

Ecological Monographs

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The biotic interactions hypothesis posits that biotic interactions are more important drivers of adaptation closer to the equator, evidenced by "stronger" contemporary interactions (e.g., greater interaction rates) and/or patterns of trait evolution consistent with a history of stronger interactions. Support for the hypothesis is mixed, but few studies span tropical and temperate regions while experimentally controlling for evolutionary history. Here, we integrate field observations and common garden experiments to quantify the relative importance of pollination and herbivory in a pair of tropical-temperate congeneric perennial herbs. Phytolacca rivinoides and P. americana are pioneer species native to the Neotropics and the eastern United States, respectively. We compared plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore interactions between three tropical populations of P. rivinoides from Costa Rica and three temperate populations of P. americana from its northern range edge in Michigan and Ohio. For some metrics of interaction importance, we also included three subtropical populations of P. americana from its southern range edge in Florida. This approach confounds species and region but allows us, uniquely, to measure complementary proxies of interaction importance across a tropicaltemperate range in one system. To test the prediction that lower-latitude plants are more reliant on insect pollinators, we quantified floral display and reward, insect visitation rates, and self-pollination ability (autogamy). To test the prediction that lower-latitude plants experience more herbivore pressure, we quantified herbivory rates, herbivore abundance, and leaf palatability. We found evidence supporting the biotic interactions hypothesis for most comparisons between P. rivinoides and north-temperate P. americana (floral display, insect visitation, autogamy, herbivory, herbivore abundance, and young-leaf palatability). Results for subtropical P. americana populations, however, were typically not intermediate between P. rivinoides and north-temperate P. americana, as would be predicted by a linear latitudinal gradient in interaction importance. Subtropical young-leaf palatability was intermediate, but subtropical mature leaves were the least palatable, and pollination-related traits did not differ between temperate and subtropical regions. These nonlinear patterns of interaction importance suggest future work to link interaction importance to climatic or biotic thresholds. In sum, we found that the biotic interactions hypothesis was more consistently supported at the larger spatial scale of our study.

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“…Intraspecific genetic variation in plant traits can arise from genetic drift or spatially varying selection and local adaptation over larger geographic distances. Such geographic-based genetic variation in plant traits can be clinal, as in the case of latitudinal and elevational clines in plant traits and associated arthropod communities (Anstett et al 2015;Pratt et al 2017). There are Communicated by Colin Mark Orians.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative effects of genetic variation sensu lato and sexual dimorphism on plant traits and associated arthropod communities

et al. 2018

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Intraspecific plant trait variation can have cascading effects on plant-associated biotic communities. Sexual dimorphism is an important axis of genetic variation in dioecious plants, but the strength of such effects and the underlying mechanisms relative to genetic variation are unknown. We established a common garden with 39 genotypes of Baccharis salicifolia sampled from a single population that included male and female genotypes and measured plant traits and quantified associated arthropod communities. Genetic variation sensu lato (genotypic variation) had strong effects on most plant traits (flower number, relative growth rate, specific leaf area, percent water content, carbon-nitrogen ratio, monoterpene but not sesquiterpene concentrations) and on herbivore and predator density, and on arthropod community composition (relative abundance of 14 orders). In contrast, sexual dimorphism had weaker effects on only a few plant traits (flower number and relative growth rate), on predator density, and on arthropod community composition, but had no effect on herbivore density. Variation in flower number drove genetic variation sensu lato and sex dimorphism in predator density and arthropod community composition. There was unique genetic variation sensu lato in herbivore density (positively) associated with monoterpene concentration and in arthropod community composition associated with specific leaf area and carbon-nitrogen ratio. There was unique sexual dimorphism in arthropod community composition associated with plant relative growth rate. Together, these results demonstrate that genetic variation sensu lato and sexual dimorphism can shape plant-associated arthropod communities via both parallel and unique mechanisms, with greater overall effects of the former.

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Can genetically based clines in plant defence explain greater herbivory at higher latitudes?

Cited by 57 publications

References 50 publications

The simultaneous inducibility of phytochemicals related to plant direct and indirect defences against herbivores is stronger at low elevation

The simultaneous inducibility of phytochemicals related to plant direct and indirect defences against herbivores is stronger at low elevation

Multiple metrics of latitudinal patterns in insect pollination and herbivory for a tropical‐temperate congener pair

Relative effects of genetic variation sensu lato and sexual dimorphism on plant traits and associated arthropod communities

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