scholarly journals Museum specimens provide novel insights into changing plant–herbivore interactions

2018 ◽  
Vol 374 (1763) ◽  
pp. 20170393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily K. Meineke ◽  
T. Jonathan Davies
Keyword(s):  
Global Change ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Host Plants ◽  
Insect Herbivory ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Museum Specimens ◽  
Proximate Mechanisms ◽  
Plant Associations ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Plant Herbivore

Mounting evidence shows that species interactions may mediate how individual species respond to climate change. However, long-term anthropogenic effects on species interactions are poorly characterized owing to a lack of data. Insect herbivory is a major ecological process that represents the interaction between insect herbivores and their host plants, but historical data on insect damage to plants is particularly sparse. Here, we suggest that museum collections of insects and plants can fill key gaps in our knowledge on changing trophic interactions, including proximate mechanisms and the net outcomes of multiple global change drivers across diverse insect herbivore–plant associations. We outline theory on how global change may affect herbivores and their host plants and highlight the unique data that could be extracted from museum specimens to explore their shifting interactions. We aim to provide a framework for using museum specimens to explore how some of the most diverse co-evolved relationships are responding to climate and land use change. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the Anthropocene’.

scholarly journals Plant-associated CO2 mediates long-distance host location and foraging behaviour of a root herbivore

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla CM Arce ◽  
Vanitha Theepan ◽  
Bernardus CJ Schimmel ◽  
Geoffrey Jaffuel ◽  
Matthias Erb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Host Plants ◽  
Host Location ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Larval Growth ◽  
Insect Herbivores ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Root Herbivore ◽  
Plant Herbivore ◽  
Dose Dependent

Insect herbivores use different cues to locate host plants. The importance of CO2 in this context is not well understood. We manipulated CO2 perception in western corn rootworm (WCR) larvae through RNAi and studied how CO2 perception impacts their interaction with their host plant. The expression of a carbon dioxide receptor, DvvGr2, is specifically required for dose-dependent larval responses to CO2. Silencing CO2 perception or scrubbing plant-associated CO2 has no effect on the ability of WCR larvae to locate host plants at short distances (<9 cm), but impairs host location at greater distances. WCR larvae preferentially orient and prefer plants that grow in well-fertilized soils compared to plants that grow in nutrient-poor soils, a behaviour that has direct consequences for larval growth and depends on the ability of the larvae to perceive root-emitted CO2. This study unravels how CO2 can mediate plant–herbivore interactions by serving as a distance-dependent host location cue.

scholarly journals Fatty Alcohols, a Minor Component of the Tree Tobacco Surface Wax, Reduce Insect Herbivory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boaz Negin ◽  
Lior Shachar ◽  
Sagit Meir ◽  
Claudio C Ramirez ◽  
Abraham Rami Horowitz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Alcohol ◽  
Insect Herbivory ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Fatty Alcohols ◽  
Nicotiana Glauca ◽  
Surface Wax ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Plant Herbivore ◽  
Wax Load

Despite decades of research resulting in a comprehensive understanding of epicuticular wax biosynthesis and metabolism, the function of these almost ubiquitous metabolites in plant-herbivore interactions remains unresolved. To develop a better understanding of this role, we investigated plant-herbivore interactions in four Nicotiana glauca (tree tobacco) genome edited mutants. This included [eceriferum1 (cer1), eceriferum3 (cer3), beta-ketoacyl-coA synthase6 (kcs6), and fatty acyl-coA reductase (far)] displaying a wide range of alkane and fatty alcohol abundances. Three interaction classes were examined: chewing herbivory with seven caterpillar and one snail species, phloem feeding with Myzus persicae (green peach aphid), and egg laying with Bemisia tabaci (sweet potato whitefly). We found that high wax load and alkane abundance did not reduce caterpillar or snail herbivory. However, fatty alcohol content was negatively correlated with caterpillar growth, suggesting a role in reducing insect herbivory despite its lower levels. Aphid reproduction and feeding activity were not correlated with wax load and composition but are potentially affected by altered cutin composition of cer1 mutants. When examining non-feeding activities, wax crystal morphology could explain the preference of B. tabaci to lay eggs on wildtype plants relative to cer1 and far mutants. Accordingly, the fatty alcohol wax component reduces caterpillar herbivory on the chemical level, but oviposition is increased when wax crystals are dense. The results suggest that this varied response between herbivore classes and species, at times displaying increased and at times reduced fitness in response to altered wax composition is in part a consequence of co-evolution that shaped the specific effects of different N. glauca metabolites such as anabasine and fatty alcohols in plant-herbivore interactions.

scholarly journals Interaction intimacy organizes networks of antagonistic interactions in different ways

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (78) ◽  
pp. 20120649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias M. Pires ◽  
Paulo R. Guimarães
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Assembly Rules ◽  
Major Question ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Plant Herbivore ◽  
Host Parasite ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Antagonistic Interactions

Interaction intimacy, the degree of biological integration between interacting individuals, shapes the ecology and evolution of species interactions. A major question in ecology is whether interaction intimacy also shapes the way interactions are organized within communities. We combined analyses of network structure and food web models to test the role of interaction intimacy in determining patterns of antagonistic interactions, such as host–parasite, predator–prey and plant–herbivore interactions. Networks describing interactions with low intimacy were more connected, more nested and less modular than high-intimacy networks. Moreover, the performance of the models differed across networks with different levels of intimacy. All models reproduced well low-intimacy networks, whereas the more elaborate models were also capable of reproducing networks depicting interactions with higher levels of intimacy. Our results indicate the key role of interaction intimacy in organizing antagonisms, suggesting that greater interaction intimacy might be associated with greater complexity in the assembly rules shaping ecological networks.

scholarly journals Domestication impacts on plant–herbivore interactions: a meta-analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1712) ◽  
pp. 20160034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan R. Whitehead ◽  
Martin M. Turcotte ◽  
Katja Poveda
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Plant Defence ◽  
Reproductive Organs ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Plant Herbivore

For millennia, humans have imposed strong selection on domesticated crops, resulting in drastically altered crop phenotypes compared with wild ancestors. Crop yields have increased, but a long-held hypothesis is that domestication has also unintentionally decreased plant defences against herbivores. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a phylogenetically controlled meta-analysis comparing insect herbivore resistance and putative plant defence traits between crops and their wild relatives. Our database included 2098 comparisons made across 73 crops in 89 studies. We found that domestication consistently reduced plant resistance to herbivores, although the magnitude of the effects varied across plant organs and depended on how resistance was measured. However, domestication had no consistent effects on the specific plant defence traits underlying resistance, including secondary metabolites and physical feeding barriers. The values of these traits sometimes increased and sometimes decreased during domestication. Consistent negative effects of domestication were observed only when defence traits were measured in reproductive organs or in the plant organ that was harvested. These results highlight the complexity of evolution under domestication and the need for an improved theoretical understanding of the mechanisms through which agronomic selection can influence the species interactions that impact both the yield and sustainability of our food systems. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Human influences on evolution, and the ecological and societal consequences’.

scholarly journals Dicamba drift alters plant-herbivore interactions at the agro-ecological interface

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nia M Johnson ◽  
Regina S Baucom
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Herbicide Resistance ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Ecological Interface ◽  
Plant Herbivore ◽  
Herbicide Drift ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Herbicide Exposure

Natural populations evolve in response to biotic and abiotic changes in their environment, which shape species interactions and ecosystem dynamics. Agricultural systems can introduce novel conditions via herbicide exposure to non-crop habitats in surrounding fields. While herbicide drift is known to produce a variety of toxic effects in plants, little is known about its impact on non-target wildlife species interactions. In a two-year study, we investigated the impact of herbicide drift on plant-herbivore interactions with common weed velvetleaf (Abutlion theophrasti) as the focal species. The findings reveal a significant increase in the phloem feeding silverleaf whitefly (Bermisia tabaci) abundance on the plants exposed to herbicide at drift rates of 0.5% and 1% of the field dose. Additionally, we found evidence that drift imposes correlated selection on whitefly resistance and growth rate as well as positive linear selection on herbicide resistance. We also identified a significant phenotypic tradeoff between whitefly resistance and herbicide resistance in addition to whitefly resistance and relative growth rate in the presence of dicamba drift. These findings suggest herbicide exposure to non-target communities can significantly alter herbivore populations, potentially impacting biodiversity and community dynamics of weed populations found at the agro-ecological interface.

scholarly journals Getting ahead of the curve: cities as surrogates for global change

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1882) ◽  
pp. 20180643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor C. Lahr ◽  
Robert R. Dunn ◽  
Steven D. Frank
Keyword(s):  
Global Change ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Impervious Surface ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Climate Variables ◽  
The Future ◽  
Ecosystem Level ◽  
Global Change Scenarios

Urbanization represents an unintentional global experiment that can provide insights into how species will respond and interact under future global change scenarios. Cities produce many conditions that are predicted to occur widely in the future, such as warmer temperatures, higher carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations and exacerbated droughts. In using cities as surrogates for global change, it is challenging to disentangle climate variables—such as temperature—from co-occurring or confounding urban variables—such as impervious surface—and then to understand the interactive effects of multiple climate variables on both individual species and species interactions. However, such interactions are also difficult to replicate experimentally, and thus the challenges of cities are also their unique advantage. Here, we review insights gained from cities, with a focus on plants and arthropods, and how urban findings agree or disagree with experimental predictions and historical data. We discuss the types of hypotheses that can be best tested in cities, caveats to urban research and how to further validate cities as surrogates for global change. Lastly, we summarize how to achieve the goal of using urban species responses to predict broader regional- and ecosystem-level patterns in the future.

scholarly journals Neighbourhood effects determine plant-herbivore interactions below-ground

2017 ◽  
Vol 106 (1) ◽  
pp. 347-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Huang ◽  
Elias Zwimpfer ◽  
Maxime R. Hervé ◽  
Zoe Bont ◽  
Matthias Erb
Keyword(s):  
Neighbourhood Effects ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Below Ground ◽  
Plant Herbivore

scholarly journals A 21st Century Vision for Neotropical Snake Systematics

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Robert Alexander Pyron
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Global Change ◽  
South America ◽  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Museum Specimens ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Recent Synthesis

We live in an unprecedented age for systematics and biodiversity studies. Ongoing global change is leading to a future with reduced species richness and ecosystem function (Pereira, Navarro, & Martins, 2012). Yet, we know more about biodiversity now than at any time in the past. For squamates in particular, we have range maps for all species (Roll et al., 2017), phylogenies containing estimates for all species (Tonini, Beard, Ferreira, Jetz, & Pyron, 2016), and myriad ecological and natural-history datasets for a large percentage of species (Meiri et al., 2013; Mesquita et al., 2016). For neotropical snakes, a recent synthesis of museum specimens and verified localities offers a fine-grained perspective on their ecogeographic distribution in Central and South America, and the Caribbean (Guedes et al., 2018).

scholarly journals Species interactions in three Lemnaceae species growing along a gradient of zinc pollution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Lanthemann ◽  
Sofia van Moorsel
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rates ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Metal Removal ◽  
Lemna Minor ◽  
Polluted Water ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
High Tolerance ◽  
Species Mixture ◽  
The Individual

Duckweeds (Lemnaceae) are increasingly studied for their potential for phytoremediation of heavy-metal polluted water bodies. A prerequisite for metal removal, however, is the tolerance of the organism to the pollutant, e.g., the metal zinc (Zn). Duckweeds have been shown to differ in their tolerances to Zn, however, despite them most commonly co-occurring with other species, there is a lack of research concerning the effect of species interactions on Zn tolerance. Here we tested whether the presence of a second species influenced the growth rate of the three duckweed species Lemna minor, Lemna gibba, and Lemna turionifera. We used four different Zn concentrations in a replicated microcosm experiment under sterile conditions, either growing the species in isolation or in a 2-species mixture. The response to Zn differed between species, but all three species showed a high tolerance to Zn, with low levels of Zn even increasing the growth rates. The growth rates of the individual species were influenced by the identity of the competing species, but this was independent of the Zn concentration. Our results suggest that species interactions should be considered in future research with duckweeds and that several duckweed species have high tolerance to metal pollution, making them candidates for phytoremediation efforts.

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