Latitudinal Variation in Palatability of Salt-Marsh Plants: Are Differences Constitutive?

Salgado, Cristiano; Pennings, Steven C.

doi:10.1890/04-1257

Cited by 76 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The mesh cages reduced incident light by c. 18%. Although this design placed plants from high and low latitudes in a common garden, differences in the palatability of high-vs. low-latitude Spartina plants persisted for more than a year and five clonal generations in a previous common garden experiment, we saw no evidence for local feeding preferences among herbivores (Pennings, Siska & Bertness 2001), and differences observed in the common garden were sufficient to explain differences in palatability observed in freshly collected field plants (Salgado & Pennings 2005). Thus, we expect that the 'latitudinal signal' of plant quality was fully maintained in this common garden experiment.…”

Section: E S O C O S M E X P E R I M E N Tmentioning

confidence: 50%

“…Spartina plants from high latitudes (RI to ME, 41-43°) are more nutritious (% N) and tender than conspecific plants from low latitudes (GA to FL, 30-31°) (Salgado & Pennings 2005;McCall & Pennings 2012). Moreover, the concentration of phenolics in Spartina is lower in plants from high (2.45 AE 0.13% dry mass) vs. low (3.16 AE 0.10%) latitudes (Siska et al 2002).…”

Section: T H E S P a R T I N A F O O D W E Bmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Moreover, the concentration of phenolics in Spartina is lower in plants from high (2.45 AE 0.13% dry mass) vs. low (3.16 AE 0.10%) latitudes (Siska et al 2002). Preference tests in the laboratory using a variety of herbivores demonstrated that both polar extracts (polar extracts containing allelochemicals in artificial diet) and live leaf tissue from high-latitude Spartina are far more palatable (more diet or leaf area consumed) than their low-latitude counterparts (Pennings, Siska & Bertness 2001;Siska et al 2002;Salgado & Pennings 2005). In sum, high-latitude plants in these marshes are known to be more nutritious, softer, less defended and more palatable than low-latitude plants.…”

Section: T H E S P a R T I N A F O O D W E Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the geographic scale, plants from high latitudes are again richer in nitrogen, lower in phenolics and more palatable to herbivores than conspecific plants from the same habitats at low latitudes (Pennings, Siska & Bertness 2001;Siska et al 2002;Salgado & Pennings 2005). Planthopper herbivores show little variation in density with latitude, but herbivorous snails are more abundant at low latitudes (Pennings et al 2009).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Importance of local vs. geographic variation in salt marsh plant quality for arthropod herbivore communities

et al. 2013

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary1. An important recent advance in food web ecology has been the application of theory regarding spatial gradients to studies of the factors that affect animal population dynamics. Building on extensive studies of the Spartina alterniflora food web at the local scale, we hypothesized that geographic variation in S. alterniflora quality is an important bottom-up control on food web structure and that geographic variation in S. alterniflora quality would interact with the presence of predators and top omnivores to mediate herbivore densities. 2. We employed a four-factor fully crossed experiment in which we (i) collected plants from highand low-latitude locations and grew them in a common garden and varied (ii) plant fertilization status (mimicking the plant quality differences due to marsh elevation), (iii) mesopredator density and (iv) omnivore density. 3. Our results suggest that the single most important factor mediating insect herbivore densities is local variation in plant quality -induced in our experiment by fertilization and demonstrated repeatedly as a consequence of marsh elevation. 4. Top-down effects were generally weak and in those cases where predators did exert a significant suppressing effect on herbivores, that impact was itself mediated by host-plant characteristics. 5. Finally, despite observed variation in plant quality with latitude, and the separately measurable effects of this variation on herbivores, geographic-scale variation in plant quality was overwhelmed by local conditions in our experiments. 6. Synthesis. We suggest that a first-order understanding of variation across large latitudinal ranges in the Spartina alterniflora arthropod food web must begin with local variation in plant quality, which provides strong bottom-up forcing to herbivore populations. A second-order understanding of the arthropod food web should consider the role of predation in controlling herbivores feeding on lowquality plants. Finally, while latitudinal variation in plant quality probably explains some variation in herbivore densities, it is probably more of a response to herbivore pressure than a driver of the herbivore dynamics. Although extrapolating from local to geographic scales presents multiple challenges, it is an essential task in order for us to develop an understanding that is general rather than site-specific.

show abstract

Section: E S O C O S M E X P E R I M E N Tmentioning

confidence: 50%

Section: T H E S P a R T I N A F O O D W E Bmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: T H E S P a R T I N A F O O D W E Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Importance of local vs. geographic variation in salt marsh plant quality for arthropod herbivore communities

et al. 2013

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Hemminga & van Soelen 1988, Goranson et al 2004) and on a geographic scale (e.g. changes in productivity, palatability, defensive capacity, Bolser & Hay 1996, Pennings et al 2001, Salgado & Pennings 2005. These variations may result in changes in abundance of herbivores (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A stem-boring moth drives detritus production in SW Atlantic marshes

Canepuccia¹,

Montemayor²,

Pascual³

et al. 2011

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biogeography of a plant invasion: genetic variation and plasticity in latitudinal clines for traits related to herbivory

Bhattarai

Meyerson

Anderson

et al. 2016

Ecological Monographs

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The juxtaposition of plant‐species invasions with latitudinal gradients in herbivore pressure is an important yet mostly unexplored issue in invasion biology. Latitudinal clines in defense and palatability to herbivores are expected to exist in native plant species but the evolution of these clines may lag behind for invasive plant species resulting in non‐parallel latitudinal clines that may impact invasion success. Our study focused on a native and European invasive lineages of the common reed Phragmites australis in North America. Using native and invasive genotypes of P. australis collected across a 17° latitudinal range, we performed experiments in replicate northern and southern common gardens to investigate whether these two lineages exhibited different genetically based latitudinal clines in defenses, nutritional condition, and palatability to their herbivores, the aphid Hyalopterus pruni and the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda. We also tested whether invasive genotypes are more phenotypically plastic than native genotypes and whether plasticity varies with latitude. Although invasive genotypes did not exhibit higher defense levels (leaf toughness, phenolics, percent carbon), they were considerably less palatable to their herbivores than native genotypes. Genetically based latitudinal clines were evident for both native and invasive P. australis and for all defenses, nutrients, and at least one palatability trait for each herbivore. In 36% of the cases where clines were evident, they were non‐parallel between the two lineages. These data suggest that clines in the invasive genotypes of P. australis evolved within the past ~100 years. Moreover, our study showed that the occurrence and direction of latitudinal clines in plant traits were commonly dependent on where the study was conducted (north or south), indicating strong phenotypic plasticity in these genetic‐based clines. Finally, traits for invasive genotypes of P. australis were 2.5 times more plastic than traits for native genotypes. Interestingly, plasticity for native but not invasive genotypes was strongly dependent on latitude of origin. Such spatial heterogeneity within and between the native and invasive lineages of P. australis with respect to their interactions with herbivores can generate substantial spatial variability in biotic resistance that can have important implications for the establishment and spread of invasive genotypes and species.

show abstract

Latitudinal Variation in Palatability of Salt-Marsh Plants: Are Differences Constitutive?

Cited by 76 publications

References 41 publications

Importance of local vs. geographic variation in salt marsh plant quality for arthropod herbivore communities

Importance of local vs. geographic variation in salt marsh plant quality for arthropod herbivore communities

A stem-boring moth drives detritus production in SW Atlantic marshes

Biogeography of a plant invasion: genetic variation and plasticity in latitudinal clines for traits related to herbivory

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About