Herbivore pressure on goldenrod (Solidago altissimaL., Asteraceae): its effects on herbivore resistance and vegetative reproduction

Abstract

Summary1. Ecological and physiological costs of resistance to herbivory are core concepts in the study of plant-insect interactions, but identifying them remains challenging. These costs are most obvious when trade-offs in resource allocation occur between different growth and resistance traits. 2. We used plant genotypes collected from long-term herbivore exclusion plots and from plots with natural herbivory. We evaluated putative trade-offs between resistance to two different herbivore species (the larvae o…