| Title: | Inducibility of chemical defences in young oak trees is stronger in species with high elevational ranges |
| Author(s): | Galman A; Petry WK; Abdala-Roberts L; Butron A; de la Fuente M; Francisco M; Kergunteuil A; Rasmann S; Moreira X; |
| Address: | "Mision Biologica de Galicia (MBG-CSIC), Apartado de correos 28, Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. Institute of Integrative Biology, Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich, Universitatstrasse 16, Zurich, Switzerland. Departamento de Ecologia Tropical, Campus de Ciencias Biologicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Apartado Postal 4-116, Itzimna, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. Institute of Biology, Laboratory of Functional Ecology, University of Neuchatel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, Neuchatel, Switzerland" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1758-4469 (Electronic) 0829-318X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Elevational gradients have been highly useful for understanding the underlying forces driving variation in plant traits and plant-insect herbivore interactions. A widely held view from these studies has been that greater herbivory under warmer and less variable climatic conditions found at low elevations has resulted in stronger herbivore selection on plant defences. However, this prediction has been called into question by conflicting empirical evidence, which could be explained by a number of causes such as an incomplete assessment of defensive strategies (ignoring other axes of defence such as defence inducibility) or unaccounted variation in abiotic factors along elevational clines. We conducted a greenhouse experiment testing for inter-specific variation in constitutive leaf chemical defences (phenolic compounds) and their inducibility in response to feeding by gypsy moth larvae (Lymantria dispar L., Lepidoptera) using saplings of 18 oak (Quercus, Fagaceae) species. These species vary in their elevational distribution and together span >2400 m in elevation, therefore allowing us to test for among-species elevational clines in defences based on the elevational range of each species. In addition, we further tested for elevational gradients in the correlated expression of constitutive defences and their inducibility and for associations between defences and climatic factors potentially underlying elevational gradients in defences. Our results showed that oak species with high elevational ranges exhibited a greater inducibility of phenolic compounds (hydrolysable tannins), but this gradient was not accounted for by climatic predictors. In contrast, constitutive defences and the correlated expression of constitutive phenolics and their inducibility did not exhibit elevational clines. Overall, this study builds towards a more robust and integrative understanding of how multivariate plant defensive phenotypes vary along ecological gradients and their underlying abiotic drivers" |
| Keywords: | Altitude Animals Ecology Herbivory *Host-Parasite Interactions Moths/*physiology Phenotype Plant Diseases/*immunology/parasitology Plant Leaves/chemistry/immunology/physiology Quercus/chemistry/immunology/*physiology Tannins/*metabolism Quercus climate de; |
| Notes: | "MedlineGalman, Andrea Petry, William K Abdala-Roberts, Luis Butron, Ana de la Fuente, Maria Francisco, Marta Kergunteuil, Alan Rasmann, Sergio Moreira, Xoaquin eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Canada 2019/01/01 Tree Physiol. 2019 Apr 1; 39(4):606-614. doi: 10.1093/treephys/tpy139" |
