Article
Plant Sciences
Mei Luo, Bin Li, Georg Jander, Shaoqun Zhou
Summary: Non-volatile metabolites play a crucial role in plant-insect interactions, serving as both nutrients and defensive compounds. Functional genetics studies have identified receptors targeting plant non-volatile metabolites in insects, while the understanding of plant receptors for insect-derived molecules is limited. Insect feeding induces changes in plant specialized metabolism, but the effects on core metabolism vary among species. Furthermore, non-volatile metabolites can facilitate tripartite communication in plant communities through direct root-to-root communication and interactions with parasitic plants, mycorrhizae, and the rhizosphere microbiome.
Review
Plant Sciences
Shaoqun Zhou, Georg Jander
Summary: Plant-derived volatile organic compounds play key roles in interactions with insect herbivores, acting as toxic or deterrent agents, signal molecules, and priming signals for plant tissues. The functions of VOC blends are strongly influenced by environmental conditions and specific plant-insect interactions. The complexity of plant-insect chemical communication via VOCs is enriched by the sophisticated molecular perception mechanisms of insects, which influence insect behavior in ways that are not fully understood.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Tali S. Berman, Moshe Inbar
Summary: Research has shown that large mammalian herbivores inadvertently ingest an entire food chain of plant-dwelling arthropods, including herbivores, predators, and parasites. This highlights the complex trophic connections between herbivores and arthropods, suggesting that herbivores can be considered as omnivorous enemies of arthropods.
Article
Plant Sciences
Pratap A. Divekar, Vijaya Rani, Sujan Majumder, Suhas Gorakh Karkute, Kutubuddin A. Molla, Koshlendra Kumar Pandey, Tusar Kanti Behera, Guru-Pirasanna-Pandi Govindharaj
Summary: Plants have developed defense mechanisms, including the production of protease inhibitors, to protect themselves against herbivores. However, insects have adapted to these inhibitors, rendering them ineffective. Understanding the gene regulation of proteases in herbivore insects can aid in the development of alternative pest management strategies.
JOURNAL OF PLANT GROWTH REGULATION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Xoaquin Moreira, Luis Abdala-Roberts
Summary: State of the art theory predicts weaker herbivore pressure on islands than on the mainland, leading to lower investment in plant defenses against herbivory. While early studies supported this prediction, recent research questions this paradigm, suggesting that islands may actually experience higher herbivory and plant defenses. Further research is needed to reassess predictions and investigate underlying mechanisms for observed patterns.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Maite Fernandez de Bobadilla, Alessia Vitiello, Matthias Erb, Erik H. Poelman
Summary: Plants have the ability to recognize their attackers and adjust their physiology to defend against multiple herbivores. However, little is known about how plants defend against multiple attackers, which is a major gap in plant science research.
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Pratap Adinath Divekar, Srinivasa Narayana, Bhupendra Adinath Divekar, Rajeev Kumar, Basana Gowda Gadratagi, Aishwarya Ray, Achuit Kumar Singh, Vijaya Rani, Vikas Singh, Akhilesh Kumar Singh, Amit Kumar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Radhe Shyam Meena, Tusar Kanti Behera
Summary: Plants have evolved adaptive strategies to defend against herbivores by synthesizing plant secondary metabolites (PSMs). PSMs play important roles in detecting and responding to herbivore attacks, and have limited adaptability to insects. They cause direct toxicity to pests and indirectly protect plants by attracting herbivore natural enemies. Understanding the molecular regulation of PSM biosynthesis can contribute to improving plant tolerance to herbivores.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Clara Vega, Sergio Alvarez-Perez, Rafael G. Albaladejo, Sandy-Lynn Steenhuisen, Marc-Andre Lachance, Steven D. Johnson, Carlos M. Herrera
Summary: Plant-pollinator interactions play a crucial role in shaping nectar microbial communities, with significantly different yeast and bacterial communities found in plants visited by different pollinator guilds. The richness and phylogenetic diversity of yeasts and bacteria vary depending on the type of pollinator, highlighting contrasts between the two microbial groups in nectar communities.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Audrey Labonte, Lucie S. Monticelli, Melinda Turpin, Emeline Felten, Emilien Laurent, Annick Matejicek, Chantal Ducourtieux, Eric Vieren, Violaine Deytieux, Stephane Cordeau, David Bohan, Adam J. Vanbergen
Summary: The competition and facilitation of pollination among plants and the availability of abiotic resources have an impact on plant reproduction. Floral resource succession and spatial heterogeneity affect plant-pollinator interactions at different ecological scales. Variations in flowering phenology influence the level of spatio-temporal heterogeneity in floral resources and pollinator interactions, thereby affecting reproduction. This study examined the effects of abiotic resources and multi-scale plant-pollinator interactions on individual plant seed set. The results demonstrated the importance of plant attractiveness, assemblage floral density, and conspecific pollen donor density in seed set, while the impact of abiotic conditions on seed set was minimal.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xose Lopez-Goldar, Amy Hastings, Tobias Zuest, Anurag Agrawal
Summary: The coevolution between plants and herbivores often involves the escalation of defence-offence strategies. This study found that different tissues of the tropical milkweed have increasing concentrations of toxins, and specialized herbivores show proportionate tolerance to these toxins. However, there are variations in insect adaptation to tissue-specific toxins. These findings suggest the presence of tissue-specific coevolutionary dynamics between the plant and its specialized herbivores.
Article
Plant Sciences
Daan Mertens, Maite Fernandez de Bobadilla, Quint Rusman, Janneke Bloem, Jacob C. Douma, Erik H. Poelman
Summary: Plants have developed diverse defence strategies to deal with attacks from herbivores, adjusting their responses based on common patterns of herbivore arrival to anticipate the most prevalent herbivores.
Article
Plant Sciences
Yuri Souza, Nacho Villar, Valesca Zipparro, Sergio Nazareth, Mauro Galetti
Summary: This study investigates the impact of large mammalian herbivores on the dominance, diversity, and coexistence of major plant growth forms in tropical rainforests. The results show that defaunation leads to a decrease in growth form diversity, an increase in the abundance of palms and trees, and changes in the relationships between growth forms. Large herbivores promote diversity among growth forms, preventing the dominance of trees and palms, while maintaining species diversity within growth forms.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Anurag A. Agrawal, John L. Maron
Summary: The long-term impact of insect herbivores on plant populations and communities remains unclear, but existing research suggests they can have important effects on plant abundance, competitive ability, and community structure.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Po-An Lin, Yintong Chen, Gabriela Ponce, Flor E. Acevedo, Jonathan P. Lynch, Charles T. Anderson, Jared G. Ali, Gary W. Felton
Summary: Stomata play a central role in plant-insect interactions, with herbivores able to manipulate stomatal dynamics to influence plant physiological processes, potentially impacting cells, organisms, and communities.
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Carlo L. Seifert, Patrick Strutzenberger, Konrad Fiedler
Summary: The body size of adult insects is affected by environmental factors during growth and development. This study explores the relationship between the ecological niche breadth of holometabolous insect species and their intraspecific body size variation. The research finds that latitudinal range size and larval diet breadth are positively correlated with intraspecific body size variation, and multivoltine species exhibit greater heterogeneity in body size compared to univoltine species.
Article
Plant Sciences
Erica Vanessa Duraes Freitas, Maria das Dores Magalhaes Veloso, Walter Santos de Araujo
Article
Forestry
Joan Sebastian Aguilar-Peralta, Antonio Gonzalez-Rodriguez, Yurixhi Maldonado-Lopez, Marcilio Fagundes, Mauricio L. Faria, Luis Daniel Avila-Cabadilla, Mariana Yolotl Alvarez-Anorve, Pablo Cuevas-Reyes
TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
(2020)
Article
Entomology
Walter Santos de Araujo, Erica Vanessa Duraes de Freitas, Luana Teixeira Silveira, Rodrigo Damasco Daud
SYSTEMATIC AND APPLIED ACAROLOGY
(2020)
Article
Plant Sciences
Marcilio Fagundes, Pablo Cuevas-Reyes, Walter S. Araujo, Mauricio L. Faria, Henrique M. Valerio, Marcia A. Pimenta, Luiz A. D. Falcao, Ronaldo Reis-Junior, Joan Sebastian Aguilar-Peralta, Henrique Tadeu dos Santos
ACTA BOTANICA MEXICANA
(2020)
Article
Ecology
Fernanda C. F. Cintra, Walter S. de Araujo, Valeria C. Maia, Maria V. Urso-Guimaraes, Henrique Venancio, Janete F. Andrade, Marco A. A. Carneiro, Wanessa R. de Almeida, Jean C. Santos
Article
Ecology
Walter Santos de Araujo, Bruno Maia Oliveira, Priscila Santos Goncalves, Luana Teixeira Silveira, Erica Vanessa Duraes Freitas, Kelly Christie dos Santos Costa
Summary: Human-induced habitat modification is a major threat to biodiversity, impacting the diversity of gall-inducing insects and host plants. A study in Neotropical savannas showed that changes in plant species richness and composition drive responses of gall-inducing insects to human disturbance. Preserving natural vegetation is crucial for the conservation of plant assemblages and their associated insects in urban environments.
Article
Entomology
Walter Santos de Araujo, Valeria Cid Maia
Summary: The tritrophic network in a restinga in Brazil consisted of diverse interactions among plants, gall midges, and parasitoids. The network between host plants and gall midges was highly specialized, while the interactions between galling and parasitoid species were more numerous and less modular, driven by the presence of generalist parasitoids.
ENTOMOLOGICAL SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Entomology
Priscila Santos Goncalves, Walter Santos De Araujo
Summary: Through a study in a tropical dry forest in Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil, it was found that the diversity of eusocial bees was higher in preserved areas and influenced by vegetation structure and seasonality.
Article
Ecology
Walter S. de Araujo, Jefferson B. B. S. Oliveira
Summary: The study found that different insect guilds have similar response patterns to anthropogenic disturbances, leading to decreased species richness and increased specialization of insect species.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Juliana Kuchenbecker, Pablo Cuevas-Reyes, Marcilio Fagundes
Summary: Ant species are sensitive to environmental changes, and the structure of ant communities is influenced by environmental heterogeneity and interspecific interactions. Our study found that vegetation abundance and height affect ant diversity and abundance, and competition plays a role in shaping ant communities. Conserving small trees is crucial for maintaining ant species diversity.
REVISTA MEXICANA DE BIODIVERSIDAD
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Marcilio Fagundes, Ana Paula Mota Fernandes Silva, Bruno Henrique Silva Mayrink, Luiz Henrique Arimura Figueiredo, Alessandre Custodio Jorge, Ingrid Lara Vieira Gomes
Summary: Studies on seed dispersal and germination are crucial for understanding plant distribution patterns and developing environmental conservation strategies. This study examined the role of two different dispersers, ants and maned wolves, in the germination of Copaifera arenicola seeds. The results showed that seeds manipulated by ants and seeds with the elaiosome removed manually had faster germination and higher germination percentages. However, seeds ingested by maned wolves also had a relatively high germination percentage.
ACTA BOTANICA BRASILICA
(2022)