| Title: | Insect herbivory and plant adaptation in an early successional community |
| Author(s): | Agrawal AA; Hastings AP; Fines DM; Bogdanowicz S; Huber M; |
| Address: | "Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853. Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853. Department of Biochemistry, Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1558-5646 (Electronic) 0014-3820 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "To address the role of insect herbivores in adaptation of plant populations and the persistence of selection through succession, we manipulated herbivory in a long-term field experiment. We suppressed insects in half of 16 plots over nine years and examined the genotypic structure and chemical defense of common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), a naturally colonizing perennial apomictic plant. Insect suppression doubled dandelion abundance in the first few years, but had negligible effects thereafter. Using microsatellite DNA markers, we genotyped >2500 plants and demonstrate that insect suppression altered the genotypic composition of plots in both sampling years. Phenotypic and genotypic estimates of defensive terpenes and phenolics from the field plots allowed us to infer phenotypic plasticity and the response of dandelion populations to insect-mediated natural selection. The effects of insect suppression on plant chemistry were, indeed, driven both by plasticity and plant genotypic identity. In particular, di-phenolic inositol esters were more abundant in plots exposed to herbivory (due to the genotypic composition of the plots) and were also induced in response to herbivory. This field experiment thus demonstrates evolutionary sorting of plant genotypes in response to insect herbivores that was in same direction as the plastic defensive response within genotypes" |
| Keywords: | "Adaptation, Biological/physiology Adaptation, Physiological Animals Esters/chemistry Genotype *Herbivory Inositol/chemistry *Insecta Microsatellite Repeats Selection, Genetic Taraxacum/*chemistry/genetics/metabolism Dandelion Taraxacum officinale experime;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineAgrawal, Anurag A Hastings, Amy P Fines, Daniel M Bogdanowicz, Steve Huber, Meret eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2018/02/20 Evolution. 2018 May; 72(5):1020-1033. doi: 10.1111/evo.13451. Epub 2018 Mar 12" |
