Leaf Mimicry in a Climbing Plant Protects against Herbivory

Gianoli, Ernesto; Carrasco-Urra, Fernando

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.010

Cited by 103 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…This means that behaviour is driven by the resolution of uncertainty—with an eye to ensuring that a flexible, surprise avoiding, sampling of sensory inputs fits their plastic phenotype (or, in free-energy parlance, fits prior beliefs embodied in their physical structure). In this way, plant perception entails predictive hypotheses as to what is out there: it could be a herbivore representing bad news [33], it could be a stream of water [34], or what may.…”

Section: Plant Predictive Processing—or Ways To Avoid Salty Surprisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting green: really radical (plant) predictive processing

Calvo

Friston

2017

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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In this article we account for the way plants respond to salient features of their environment under the free-energy principle for biological systems. Biological self-organization amounts to the minimization of surprise over time. We posit that any self-organizing system must embody a generative model whose predictions ensure that (expected) free energy is minimized through action. Plants respond in a fast, and yet coordinated manner, to environmental contingencies. They pro-actively sample their local environment to elicit information with an adaptive value. Our main thesis is that plant behaviour takes place by way of a process (active inference) that predicts the environmental sources of sensory stimulation. This principle, we argue, endows plants with a form of perception that underwrites purposeful, anticipatory behaviour. The aim of the article is to assess the prospects of a radical predictive processing story that would follow naturally from the free-energy principle for biological systems; an approach that may ultimately bear upon our understanding of life and cognition more broadly.

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Section: Plant Predictive Processing—or Ways To Avoid Salty Surprisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting green: really radical (plant) predictive processing

Calvo

Friston

2017

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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“…The consequence of mimicry is to reduce herbivory. Mimicry on eight different hosts has been reported [137]. A vine, extending across different hosts, responds to each specifically in turn.…”

Section: Leaf Mimicry Through Volatile Organic Chemical Recognition?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The foundations of plant intelligence

Trewavas

2017

Interface Focus.

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Intelligence is defined for wild plants and its role in fitness identified. Intelligent behaviour exhibited by single cells and systems similarity between the interactome and connectome indicates neural systems are not necessary for intelligent capabilities. Plants sense and respond to many environmental signals that are assessed to competitively optimize acquisition of patchily distributed resources. Situations of choice engender motivational states in goal-directed plant behaviour; consequent intelligent decisions enable efficient gain of energy over expenditure. Comparison of swarm intelligence and plant behaviour indicates the origins of plant intelligence lie in complex communication and is exemplified by cambial control of branch function. Error correction in behaviours indicates both awareness and intention as does the ability to count to five. Volatile organic compounds are used as signals in numerous plant interactions. Being complex in composition and often species and individual specific, they may represent the plant language and account for self and alien recognition between individual plants. Game theory has been used to understand competitive and cooperative interactions between plants and microbes. Some unexpected cooperative behaviour between individuals and potential aliens has emerged. Behaviour profiting from experience, another simple definition of intelligence, requires both learning and memory and is indicated in the priming of herbivory, disease and abiotic stresses.

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“…The role of herbivores in influencing the evolution of leaf size and shape has mainly considered in the context of physical barriers to herbivory (Brown et al, 1991). The role of leaf shape as an adaptation against visual herbivores has been less well studied, but one example is leaf mimicry in the Boquila trifoliolata vine, which mimics the leaves of its supporting trees to avoid visual herbivores (Gianoli and Carrasco-Urra, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Butterfly Learning and the Diversification of Plant Leaf Shape

2016

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Visual cues are important for insects to find flowers and host plants. It has been proposed that the diversity of leaf shape in Passiflora vines could be a result of negative frequency dependent selection driven by visual searching behavior among their butterfly herbivores. Here we tested the hypothesis that Heliconius butterflies use leaf shape as a cue to initiate approach toward a host plant. We first tested for the ability to recognize shapes using a food reward conditioning experiment. Butterflies showed an innate preference for flowers with three and five petals. However, they could be trained to increase the frequency of visits to a non-preferred flower with two petals, indicating an ability to learn to associate shape with a reward. Next we investigated shape learning specifically in the context of oviposition by conditioning females to lay eggs on two shoots associated with different artificial leaf shapes: their own host plant, Passiflora biflora, and a lanceolate non-biflora leaf shape. The conditioning treatment had a significant effect on the approach of butterflies to the two leaf shapes, consistent with a role for shape learning in oviposition behavior. This study is the first to show that Heliconius butterflies use shape as a cue for feeding and oviposition, and can learn shape preference for both flowers and leaves. This demonstrates the potential for Heliconius to drive negative frequency dependent selection on the leaf shape of their Passiflora host plants.

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Leaf Mimicry in a Climbing Plant Protects against Herbivory

Cited by 103 publications

References 33 publications

Predicting green: really radical (plant) predictive processing

Predicting green: really radical (plant) predictive processing

The foundations of plant intelligence

Butterfly Learning and the Diversification of Plant Leaf Shape

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