Testing the plant stress hypothesis: stressed plants offer better food to an insect herbivore

2013 ◽  
Vol 149 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie S. Bauerfeind ◽  
Klaus Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Plant Stress ◽  
Insect Herbivore ◽  
Plant Stress Hypothesis

scholarly journals Effect of light stress on Crotalaria spectabilis (Fabaceae) and on its herbivore insect, the moth Utetheisa ornatrix (Erebidae: Arctiinae)

2021 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Moreno ◽  
Letícia L. Barbosa ◽  
Lorena S. Lima ◽  
Viviane G. Ferro
Keyword(s):  
Light Stress ◽  
Plant Stress ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Secondary Compounds ◽  
Larval Survival ◽  
Pupal Weight ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Utetheisa Ornatrix ◽  
Plant Stress Hypothesis ◽  
Crotalaria Spectabilis

ABSTRACT The Plant Stress Hypothesis predicts that stressed plants are more attacked by herbivorous insects. In this work, we investigated the influence of light stress on Crotalaria spectabilis Roth (Fabaceae) and on its main herbivore, the moth Utetheisa ornatrix (L., 1758) (Erebidae: Arctiinae). Specifically, we verified whether plants stressed by shading differ from non-stressed plants in terms of productivity, morphological characteristics and water percentage. We also evaluated the performance of moths in stressed and non-stressed plants. Seeds were sown in pots. When the plants reached 50 cm in height, they were randomly divided into two groups: stressed plants (treatment group) and non-stressed plants (control group). The stressed plants were covered by a black mesh, providing 50% of shading. Eight characteristics of stressed and non-stressed C. spectabilis plants were evaluated: height, fresh and dry aerial biomass, number of pods and seeds, leaf hardness, number of trichomes, leaf area, specific leaf mass and percentage of leaf water. Moths were raised individually on leaves of stressed and non-stressed plants and we obtained the larval survival, larval development time, pupal weight and female fecundity. The non-stressed plants had significantly higher percentage of water in the leaves, greater fresh aerial biomass and a higher number of trichomes than the stressed plants. The survival rate was 98% for larvae raised on leaves from stressed plants and 92% on leaves from non-stressed plants. The larval developmental time was significantly shorter and the weight of female pupae significantly higher in non-stressed plants than in stressed plants. Thus, the Plant Stress Hypothesis was only corroborated by two tested variables: number of trichomes (lower in stressed plants) and larval survival (higher in stressed plants). Trichomes are among the main types of plant defenses against herbivory and reducing their number on leaves would make stressed plants more susceptible to attack by moth larvae, a fact corroborated by a greater larval survival. One of the possible explanations for the lack of corroboration of the Plant Stress Hypothesis for most of the variables tested is that other characteristics can be changed under stress conditions, such as the concentration of secondary compounds.

Evaluation of plant stress due to plasma-generated reactive oxygen and nitrogen species using electrolyte leakage

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 010504
Author(s):  
Keisuke Takashima ◽  
Ahmad Shahir bin Ahmad Nor ◽  
Sugihiro Ando ◽  
Hideki Takahashi ◽  
Toshiro Kaneko
Keyword(s):  
Electrolyte Leakage ◽  
Plant Stress ◽  
Reactive Oxygen ◽  
Nitrogen Species

Plant stress-inducible promoters and their function

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Ping ZHU ◽  
Zhuang YU ◽  
Cui-Xia ZOU ◽  
Qiu-Li LI
Keyword(s):  
Plant Stress ◽  
Inducible Promoters
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