Response to Comment on “Information arms race explains plant-herbivore chemical communication in ecological communities"

Zu et al. 2020 (1) proposed a simple, parameter-free, information-arms-race theory to explain the distributions of plant-herbivore interactions and plant-volatile associations observed in plant-herbivore communities. We received a comment by Bass and Kessler (Oct. 2020) questioning this theory and suggesting that a simpler neutral model can explain the observed distributions. This, with our response, went to peer review and was not published (Oct. 29, 2020). The authors have decided to publish their comment on EcoEvoRxiv (2) and so here, we are posting our reply. In sum, we present arguments to show that the comment from Bass and Kessler is based on an incorrect understanding of our study and furthermore suffers from circular reasoning, and that therefore their conclusions are not supported.

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Response to Comment on “Information arms race explains plant-herbivore chemical communication in ecological communities”

10.32942/osf.io/n65ez ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Pengjuan Zu ◽

Serguei ◽

Karina Boege ◽

Ek del Val ◽

Meredith Christine Schuman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Arms Race ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Neutral Model ◽

Race Theory ◽

Circular Reasoning ◽

Plant Volatile ◽

Herbivore Interactions ◽

Plant Herbivore ◽

Herbivore Communities ◽

Simple Parameter

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Information arms race explains plant-herbivore chemical communication in ecological communities.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.738164894.793579380 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Nicole M van Dam

Keyword(s):

Chemical Communication ◽

Arms Race ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Plant Herbivore

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Comment on “Information arms race explains plant-herbivore chemical communication in ecological communities”

10.32942/osf.io/xsbtm ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ethan Bass ◽

André Kessler

Keyword(s):

Chemical Communication ◽

Evolutionary Theory ◽

Null Model ◽

Arms Race ◽

Community Level ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Proposed Model ◽

Plant Herbivore

Zu et al (Science, 19 Jun 2020, p. 1377) propose that an ‘information arms-race’ between plants and herbivores explains plant-herbivore communication at the community level. However, our analysis shows that key assumptions of the proposed model either a) conflict with standard evolutionary theory or b) are not supported by the available evidence. We also show that the presented statistical patterns can be explained more parsimoniously (e.g. through a null model) without invoking an unlikely process of community selection.

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Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-020-19565-4 ◽

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.

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Information arms race explains plant-herbivore chemical communication in ecological communities

Science ◽

10.1126/science.aba2965 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 368 (6497) ◽

pp. 1377-1381 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Pengjuan Zu ◽

Karina Boege ◽

Ek del-Val ◽

Meredith C. Schuman ◽

Philip C. Stevenson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chemical Communication ◽

Species Interactions ◽

Information Structure ◽

Information Transfer ◽

Arms Race ◽

Trophic Levels ◽

Dry Forest ◽

Ecological Communities ◽

Conflicting Information ◽

Plant Herbivore

Plants emit an extraordinary diversity of chemicals that provide information about their identity and mediate their interactions with insects. However, most studies of this have focused on a few model species in controlled environments, limiting our capacity to understand plant-insect chemical communication in ecological communities. Here, by integrating information theory with ecological and evolutionary theories, we show that a stable information structure of plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can emerge from a conflicting information process between plants and herbivores. We corroborate this information “arms race” theory with field data recording plant-VOC associations and plant-herbivore interactions in a tropical dry forest. We reveal that plant VOC redundancy and herbivore specialization can be explained by a conflicting information transfer. Information-based communication approaches can increase our understanding of species interactions across trophic levels.

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