Stinging hairs on the Japanese nettle<i>Urtica thunbergiana</i>have a defensive function against mammalian but not insect herbivores

Iwamoto, Misaki; Horikawa, Chika; Shikata, Megumi; Wasaka, Naoko; Kato, Teiko; Sato, H.

doi:10.1007/s11284-014-1137-2

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Plants that survived such strong selective pressure must have devised some means to protect themselves, and one would expect indications of foliar responses to this herbivory (Iwamoto et al, 2014). The appearance of stinging trichomes in leaves of tribe Urticeae are one example.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urticaceae leaves with stinging trichomes were already present in latest early Eocene Okanogan Highlands, British Columbia, Canada

DeVore¹,

Nyandwi

Eckardt

et al. 2020

American J of Botany

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The early Eocene Okanogan Highlands plant fossil sites in British Columbia, Canada and Washington, United States, contain a diverse assemblage of upland, warm temperate elements that provide a record of high-elevation floras including early members of several important families (Johnson, 1996; DeVore and Pigg, 2010; Greenwood et al., 2016). These floras, including One Mile Creek, Thomas Ranch, McAbee, Falkland, and Quilchena in British Columbia, Canada and in Republic, Washington occur in a series of lacustrine basins formed as down-dropped crustal blocks associated with volcanism. Although there is no exact modern analogue, we have suggested that the African Rift Valley and associated volcanic peaks are perhaps among the most appropriate, as a high-elevation, forested setting, populated with large herbivorous mammals and associated with volcanics (DeVore and Pigg, 2016). Well represented in the Okanogan Highlands floras are some of the oldest known fossils of Betulaceae, Rosaceae, Ulmaceae, and other families that today are predominately distributed in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere (Johnson, 1996). While studying

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urticaceae leaves with stinging trichomes were already present in latest early Eocene Okanogan Highlands, British Columbia, Canada

DeVore¹,

Nyandwi

Eckardt

et al. 2020

American J of Botany

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“…Although V. indica larval performance differs between heavily haired NP nettles and lightly haired TCS nettles, V. indica females and larvae do not discriminate between them when allowed to choose at oviposition or feeding (Iwamoto et al. ), indicating a lack of preference–performance linkage. There is also some literature reporting the lack of this linkage in insects (Gripenberg et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nettles in NP have several dozen times more stinging hairs on leaves than on nettles from surrounding or nearby locations (e.g., TCS), where there are no or few sika deer. The high hair density on nettles in NP is assumed to have evolved as a mechanism to resist deer browsing (Kato et al 2008, Shikata et al 2013, Iwamoto et al 2014).…”

Section: Study Species and Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our previous study has shown that the density of stinging hairs has little effect on the oviposition preference and the larval feeding preference of V. indica butterflies feeding on nettles in NP (Iwamoto et al. ), but it is unclear whether the nettle hair density affects larval performance or not. This study focuses on this topic and on whether V. indica in NP are locally adapted to heavily haired nettles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differential butterfly performance on host plant variants from populations under intense vs. low mammalian herbivory

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Evolutionary interactions between a pair of species can be modified by the presence of another species that interacts with either or both species. However, only a few studies have demonstrated such complex interactions. Here, we report a case where a population of the red admiral butterfly (Vanessa indica) is assumed to change fitness traits in response to an evolutionary change in its major host plant, the Japanese stinging nettle (Urtica thunbergiana), caused by intense browsing pressure from sika deer (Cervus nippon). Nara Park (NP) in Japan has been home to several hundred protected sika deer for approximately 1200 yr, and their intense browsing pressure is assumed to have selected for heavily haired nettles that are more resistant to deer browsing compared to normal lightly haired nettles occurring in areas with low densities of sika deer. We found that the water and nitrogen contents of leaves are lower and the specific leaf mass is higher in heavily haired nettles at NP compared to the lightly haired nettles at the Takatori Castle Site (TCS) 30 km south of NP. Feeding experiments showed that V. indica larvae from NP reared on heavily haired nettles reach a greater adult body mass and relative abdomen mass than those from TCS, suggesting the possibility that the NP V. indica population has adapted to the heavily haired, nutritionally poorer variant. Analysis of the nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene of V. indica from NP and nearby locations including TCS found one haplotype exclusive to NP, suggesting that movement of this butterfly is somewhat restricted. However, analysis using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers showed no genetic differentiation between the seven V. indica populations including the NP and TCS populations. These results suggest that adaptation of the NP population to the heavily haired nettle occurred in a relatively short period. Our study demonstrates a rare example of an indirect evolutionary impact of one herbivore (sika deer) on another herbivore (red admiral butterfly) through an evolutionary change in their shared food plant (Japanese nettle).

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“…In NP, several hundred sika deer (Cervus nippon (Artiodactyla, Cervidae) have been protected for more than 1,200 years as sacred animal. Our previous work has revealed that heavily-haired nettles in NP are resistant to sika deer but not herbivorous insects such as the red admiral Vanessa indica (Kato et al 2008;Iwamoto et al 2014) and that variation in hairiness among nettle populations are genetically based (Kato et al 2008;Hirata et al 2019). These ndings suggest that heavy hairiness has evolved through natural selection under intense browsing by sika deer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intense Browsing by Sika Deer (Cervus Nippon) Drives the Genectic Differentiation of Hairy Nettle (Urtica Thunbergiana) Populations

Kohyama

Yoshida

Kimura

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Many studies have inferred the way in which natural selection, genetic drift and gene flow shape the population genetic structures, but very few have quantified the population differentiation under spatially and temporally varying levels of selection pressure, population fluctuation and gene flow. In Nara Park (6.6 km2; NP), central Japan, where several hundred sika deer (Cervus nippon) have been protected for more than 1,200 years, heavily- or moderately-haired nettle (Uritica thunbergiana) populations have evolved probably in response to intense deer browsing. Here, we analysed the genetic structure of two populations from NP and five from surrounding areas using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers. A total of 546 marker loci were genotyped from 210 individuals. A Bayesian method estimated 5.5% of these loci to be outliers, which are putatively under natural selection. Neighbour-joining, Bayesian clustering and principal coordinates analyses using all-loci, non-outlier loci and outlier loci datasets showed that the two populations from NP formed a cluster distinct from the surroundings. These results indicate the genome-wide differentiation of the populations from NP and the surroundings. Moreover, these imply that: (1) gene flow is limited between these populations and thus genetic drift is a major factor causing the differentiation; and (2) natural selection imposed by intense deer browsing has contributed to some extent to the differentiation. In conclusion, sika deer seems to have counteracted genetic drift to drive the genetic differentiation of hairy nettles in NP. This study suggests that a single herbivore species could lead genetic differentiation among plant populations.

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Stinging hairs on the Japanese nettleUrtica thunbergianahave a defensive function against mammalian but not insect herbivores

Cited by 13 publications

References 21 publications

Urticaceae leaves with stinging trichomes were already present in latest early Eocene Okanogan Highlands, British Columbia, Canada

Urticaceae leaves with stinging trichomes were already present in latest early Eocene Okanogan Highlands, British Columbia, Canada

Differential butterfly performance on host plant variants from populations under intense vs. low mammalian herbivory

Intense Browsing by Sika Deer (Cervus Nippon) Drives the Genectic Differentiation of Hairy Nettle (Urtica Thunbergiana) Populations

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