scholarly journals Biodiversity enhances the multitrophic control of arthropod herbivory

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (45) ◽  
pp. eabb6603
Author(s):  
A. D. Barnes ◽  
C. Scherber ◽  
U. Brose ◽  
E. T. Borer ◽  
A. Ebeling ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Webs ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Natural Control ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Plant Herbivore ◽  
Simultaneous Influence ◽  
Grassland Biodiversity ◽  
High Diversity

Arthropod herbivores cause substantial economic costs that drive an increasing need to develop environmentally sustainable approaches to herbivore control. Increasing plant diversity is expected to limit herbivory by altering plant-herbivore and predator-herbivore interactions, but the simultaneous influence of these interactions on herbivore impacts remains unexplored. We compiled 487 arthropod food webs in two long-running grassland biodiversity experiments in Europe and North America to investigate whether and how increasing plant diversity can reduce the impacts of herbivores on plants. We show that plants lose just under half as much energy to arthropod herbivores when in high-diversity mixtures versus monocultures and reveal that plant diversity decreases effects of herbivores on plants by simultaneously benefiting predators and reducing average herbivore food quality. These findings demonstrate that conserving plant diversity is crucial for maintaining interactions in food webs that provide natural control of herbivore pests.

scholarly journals Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Desiree L. Narango ◽  
Douglas W. Tallamy ◽  
Kimberley J. Shropshire
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Host Plant ◽  
Ecosystem Function ◽  
Functional Food ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Plant Herbivore

AbstractFunctional food webs are essential for the successful conservation of ecological communities, and in terrestrial systems, food webs are built on a foundation of coevolved interactions between plants and their consumers. Here, we collate published data on host plant ranges and associated host plant-Lepidoptera interactions from across the contiguous United States and demonstrate that among ecosystems, distributions of plant-herbivore interactions are consistently skewed, with a small percentage of plant genera supporting the majority of Lepidoptera. Plant identities critical for retaining interaction diversity are similar and independent of geography. Given the importance of Lepidoptera to food webs and ecosystem function, efficient and effective restoration of degraded landscapes depends on the inclusion of such ‘keystone’ plants.

scholarly journals Influence of plant genetic diversity on interactions between higher trophic levels

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 20130133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xoaquín Moreira ◽  
Kailen A. Mooney
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Diversity ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Plant Diversity ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Intraspecific Diversity ◽  
Additive Effects ◽  
Aphid Parasitoid ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Plant Herbivore ◽  
Aphid Abundance

While the ecological consequences of plant diversity have received much attention, the mechanisms by which intraspecific diversity affects associated communities remains understudied. We report on a field experiment documenting the effects of patch diversity in the plant Baccharis salicifolia (genotypic monocultures versus polycultures of four genotypes), ants (presence versus absence) and their interaction on ant-tended aphids, ants and parasitic wasps, and the mechanistic pathways by which diversity influences their multi-trophic interactions. Five months after planting, polycultures (versus monocultures) had increased abundances of aphids (threefold), ants (3.2-fold) and parasitoids (1.7-fold) owing to non-additive effects of genetic diversity. The effect on aphids was direct, as plant genetic diversity did not mediate ant–aphid, parasitoid–aphid or ant–parasitoid interactions. This increase in aphid abundance occurred even though plant growth (and thus aphid resources) was not higher in polycultures. The increase in ants and parasitoids was an indirect effect, due entirely to higher aphid abundance. Ants reduced parasitoid abundance by 60 per cent, but did not affect aphid abundance or plant growth, and these top-down effects were equivalent between monocultures and polycultures. In summary, intraspecific plant diversity did not increase primary productivity, but nevertheless had strong effects across multiple trophic levels, and effects on both herbivore mutualists and enemies could be predicted entirely as an extension of plant–herbivore interactions.

scholarly journals Effects of Climate Change on Grassland Biodiversity and Productivity

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1047
Author(s):  
Gianni Bellocchi ◽  
Catherine Picon-Cochard
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Low Input ◽  
The Core ◽  
Fodder Production ◽  
Grassland Biodiversity ◽  
High Diversity

Associated with livestock farming, grasslands with a high diversity of plant species are at the core of low-input fodder production worldwide [...]

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 beta-glucosidase of an insect herbivore determines both toxicity and deterrence of a dandelion defense metabolite

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meret Huber ◽  
Thomas Roder ◽  
Sandra Irmisch ◽  
Alexander Riedel ◽  
Saskia Gablenz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plant Defense ◽  
Feeding Preference ◽  
Melolontha Melolontha ◽  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Dandelion ◽  
Beta Glucosidase ◽  
Insect Gut ◽  
Root Herbivore ◽  
Plant Herbivore

Gut enzymes can metabolize plant defense metabolites and thereby affect the growth and fitness of insect herbivores. Whether these enzymes also influence herbivore behavior and feeding preference is largely unknown. We studied the metabolization of taraxinic acid β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (TA-G), a sesquiterpene lactone of the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) that deters its major root herbivore, the common cockchafer larva (Melolontha melolontha). We demonstrate that TA-G is rapidly deglycosylated and conjugated to glutathione in the insect gut. A broad-spectrum M. melolontha β-glucosidase, Mm_bGlc17, is sufficient and necessary for TA-G deglycosylation. Using plants and insect RNA interference, we show that Mm_bGlc17 reduces TA-G toxicity. Furthermore, Mm_bGlc17 is required for the preference of M. melolontha larvae for TA-G deficient plants. Thus, herbivore metabolism modulates both the toxicity and deterrence of a plant defense metabolite. Our work illustrates the multifacteted roles of insect digestive enzymes as mediators of plant-herbivore interactions.

The Use of VIGS Technology to Study Plant–Herbivore Interactions

2013 ◽  
pp. 109-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Galis ◽  
Meredith C. Schuman ◽  
Klaus Gase ◽  
Christian Hettenhausen ◽  
Markus Hartl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Herbivore Interactions ◽  
Plant Herbivore
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