Sources of Controversy Surrounding Latitudinal Patterns in Herbivory and Defense

Anstett, Daniel N.; Nunes, Krystal; Baskett, Carina A.; Kotanen, Peter M.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2016.07.011

Cited by 133 publications

(247 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…This highlights the importance of quantifying geographical gradients in plant defence (and any other adaptation) over broad gradients, and supports the idea that the mixed findings of previous studies might be attributable to their limited sampling scale (Anstett et al, 2016;. However, we would have found the opposite trend if we had only sampled below 2,400 m a.s.l.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

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Plants are more likely to be spiny at mid‐elevations in the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, south‐western China

Song

Sun

Lev‐Yadun

et al. 2019

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim:We tested the elevational herbivory defence hypothesis, which predicts that plants from low elevations are better defended than plants from higher elevations. Location:The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in south-western China-the world's highest plateau. Taxon: Angiosperms.Methods: We collated binary spinescence data for 10,622 angiosperm species ranging from 600 to 6,000 m a.s.l. Logistic regression was used to quantify the elevational pattern in spinescence. Because spinescence is thought to be especially effective against mammalian herbivores, we also quantified the association between spinescence and mammalian herbivore richness. Results:We found a unimodal relationship between elevation and spinescence, with the highest proportion of spinescent species occurring at mid-elevations. This unimodal relationship was present in perennial herbs, shrubs and trees, but not in annual herbs. Herbivorous mammal richness also showed a unimodal elevational pattern. A positive association between herbivorous mammal richness and the incidence of spinescent species suggests that elevational variation in herbivore pressure from mammals might drive elevational variation in spinescence. Main Conclusions:Our findings further call into question the elevational herbivory defence hypothesis and shed new light on the potential causes of elevational gradients in plant diversity. K E Y W O R D Selevation, physical defence, plant defence, plant-herbivore interaction, prickle, spine, thorn

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Anstett, Nunes, Baskett, & Kotanen, 2016;Moles & Ollerton, 2016). Anstett, Nunes, Baskett, & Kotanen, 2016;Moles & Ollerton, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Plants are more likely to be spiny at mid‐elevations in the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, south‐western China

Song

Sun

Lev‐Yadun

et al. 2019

Journal of Biogeography

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“…Recent work simultaneously addressing intra-and interspecific elevational gradients have reported that patterns may change depending on the level of organization studied (see Anstett et al 2016 for latitudinal gradients). For example, Descombes et al (2017) reported an overall increase in plant palatability with elevation based on plant communityweighted trait means, but at the individual species level, there was no effect of elevation on plant palatability in most cases.…”

Section: Addressing Both Within-and Among-species Variation In Plant mentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevational gradients in plant defences and insect herbivory: recent advances in the field and prospects for future research

et al. 2018

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Classic research on elevational gradients in plant-herbivore interactions holds that insect herbivore pressure is stronger under warmer, less seasonal climates characteristic of low elevations, and that this in turn selects for increased defence in low-(relative to high-) elevation plants. However, recent work has questioned this paradigm, arguing that it overly simplifies the ecological complexity in which plant-insect herbivore interactions are embedded along elevational gradients. Numerous biotic and abiotic factors vary with elevation, and their simultaneous influences are the focus of current work on elevational gradients in insect herbivory and plant defences. The present review 1) synthesizes current knowledge on elevational gradients in plant-insect herbivore interactions; 2) critically analyses research gaps and highlights recent advances that contribute to filling these gaps; and 3) outlines new research opportunities to uncover underlying mechanisms and build towards a unified theory on elevational gradients. We conclude that the next generation of studies should embrace community complexity -including multi-trophic dynamics and the multivariate nature of plant defence -and to do so by combining observational data, manipulative experiments and emerging analytical tools.

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“…They suggested that future studies should focus on the intraspecific level or a narrow phylogenetic scale (e.g., a plant genus). The ultimate purpose of these hypotheses is to explain the strong variation in herbivory among different species (Coley et al 1985, Lim et al 2015, Anstett et al 2016, Hahn and Maron 2016, Zhang et al 2016. First, the main theoretical hypotheses about plant defense (e.g., the resource availability hypothesis, the plant apparency hypothesis, and the latitudinal herbivory-defense hypothesis) are community level, but not intraspecific-or clade-level hypotheses.…”

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confidence: 99%

The association of leaf lifespan and background insect herbivory at the interspecific level

Zhang

2017

Ecology

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Herbivory is well known to be a major selective pressure that affects plant communities, but the leaf traits that mediate variations in herbivory at the interspecific level remain controversial. We collected published data on background insect herbivory and leaf traits from a wide variety of species to test the hypothesis that species with intermediate leaf lifespans, lower fiber, and higher nutrient contents in leaves should have higher levels of herbivory. We found that at the interspecific level herbivory had a hump-shaped relationship with leaf lifespan and a positive relationship with leaf size. Surprisingly, our data show that nutritional traits have little relationship to herbivory. Our study provides new insights relevant to the recent debate on leaf trait-herbivory relationships. These findings are especially helpful in explaining the general patterns of herbivory detected on the global scale.

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Sources of Controversy Surrounding Latitudinal Patterns in Herbivory and Defense

Cited by 133 publications

References 83 publications

Plants are more likely to be spiny at mid‐elevations in the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, south‐western China

Plants are more likely to be spiny at mid‐elevations in the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, south‐western China

Elevational gradients in plant defences and insect herbivory: recent advances in the field and prospects for future research

The association of leaf lifespan and background insect herbivory at the interspecific level

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