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
Xiaofei Li, Shengnan Wang, Chelse Prather, Ho Yi Wan, Hui Zhu, Petri Nummi, Moshe Inbar, Qiang Gao, Deli Wang, Zhiwei Zhong
Summary: The study found that grazing by sheep led to a significant increase in aphid abundance in a temperate grassland ecosystem. This facilitative effect was driven by grazing altering the plant community structure, rather than changes in food availability or predator abundance for aphids.Selective grazing on certain plants by sheep disrupted associational plant defense mechanisms, ultimately making the grass more susceptible to aphid attacks and increasing aphid density.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Katherine D. Holmes, Anurag A. Agrawal
Summary: At small spatial scales, the attraction or deterrence of herbivores by plant neighbors can affect plants' susceptibility to damage, with induced resistance playing a role in mitigating spatial variability. Neighboring effects were found between closely related plant species in natural populations, and inducing plant resistance in a common garden changed these effects. Induction was effective in reducing beetle oviposition on focal plants in heterospecific groups, eliminating negative neighbor effects for the less preferred plant species, while having minimal effect in conspecific patches. This suggests that inducible resistance may help plants cope with spatial heterogeneity in susceptibility to herbivores.
Article
Zoology
Christina L. Mogren, Ikkei Shikano
Summary: Microbes associated with insects play a significant role in the interactions between herbivorous insects, pollinators, and their host plants. These interactions can have implications for the health and immunity of pollinators, highlighting the importance of plant quality, gut microbiomes, and multitrophic interactions between herbivores and pollinators. Additionally, other herbivore-associated factors, such as agricultural inputs aimed at pest control, can also impact pollinator microbiomes.
JOURNAL OF INVERTEBRATE PATHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
M. Estrella Santamaria, Alejandro Garcia, Ana Arnaiz, Irene Rosa-Diaz, Gara Romero-Hernandez, Isabel Diaz, Manuel Martinez
Summary: Plant molecular machinery is triggered to cope with various abiotic and biotic stresses, with specific mechanisms identified to optimize responses to individual threats. Transcriptomic analysis of different plant species and meta-analysis of responses reveal common mechanisms for herbivory and specific gene sets involved in particular interactions, highlighting the importance of jasmonate-induced pathways in plant stress responses.
JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE PLANT BIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Huiwen Zhou, Juan Hua, Jiaming Zhang, Shihong Luo
Summary: Plants have evolved defensive mechanisms against pathogens and herbivores, which can lead to growth or reproduction decreases. However, through antagonism of plant hormones, production of constitutive defensive substances, and utilizing external organisms, plants can effectively reduce the costs of defense and maintain a balance between growth and defense.
JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yue He, Zuodong Zhu, Qingxue Guo, Zhichao Xia
Summary: Sex-specific interactions between females and males of dioecious Populus cathayana plants were investigated in this study. Females responded to males by increasing shoot mass, while males responded to females by increasing shoot biomass. Herbivory enhanced phenolic production in leaves of both sexes, with a stronger effect in females. Additionally, jasmonic acid production was higher in females under herbivory compared to males. Field experiments showed differences in herbivore damage between pure female and male plantations, as well as in mixed-sex plantations, highlighting the importance of sex-specific interactions in plant defense mechanisms.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Review
Ecology
William C. Wetzel, Brian D. Inouye, Philip G. Hahn, Susan R. Whitehead, Nora Underwood
Summary: Plants and herbivores exhibit significant variability in space and time. Research on variability expands our understanding of plant-herbivore ecology and evolution, leading to new hypotheses and insights into the distribution of herbivory.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Se Jong Jeong, Bo Eun Nam, Hyeon Jin Jeong, Jae Yeon Jang, Youngsung Joo, Jae Geun Kim
Summary: Plants balance investments in growth and defense, and the levels of defensive secondary metabolites may vary according to plant age and season. This study examined the effects of aristolochic acids and nutritional value on specialist and generalist herbivores colonizing Aristolochia contorta. Young leaves had higher concentrations of aristolochic acids but lower nutritional value, leading to lower larval performance. At the end of the growing season, the nutritional value of leaves decreased, affecting the performance of both herbivores regardless of plant age.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(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
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
Ecology
Morgan N. Thompson, John M. Grunseich, Laura O. Marmolejo, Natalie M. Aguirre, Pius A. Bradicich, Spencer T. Behmer, Charles P. -C. Suh, Anjel M. Helms
Summary: It has been found that belowground larval herbivory enhances aboveground plant defenses and deters aboveground herbivores. The larvae-damaged plants emit higher amounts of a key volatile compound, and belowground herbivory may also influence aboveground herbivore foraging decisions through plant nutrient content.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lourdes Castelblanque, Javier Garcia-Andrade, Clara Martinez-Arias, Juan J. Rodriguez, Francisco J. Escaray, Ernestina Aguilar-Fenollosa, Josep A. Jaques, Pablo Vera
Summary: The article discusses the importance of laticifer cells in plant physiological adaptation and resistance, including their roles in defending against insects and fungi.
PLANT COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Saumik Basu, Benjamin W. Lee, Robert E. Clark, Sayanta Bera, Clare L. Casteel, David W. Crowder
Summary: Pea plants grown with rhizobia exhibit reduced herbivory by Sitona lineatus due to increased expression of hormone-related and physical defenses. However, herbivory also disrupts the symbiosis between pea plants and rhizobia.
BASIC AND APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Cell Biology
Muhammad Yasir Ali, Tayyaba Naseem, Jarmo K. K. Holopainen, Tongxian Liu, Jinping Zhang, Feng Zhang
Summary: Herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) are released by plants in response to damage or disturbance by phytophagous insects. These HIPVs serve as signals and can be used by predators and parasitoids to locate herbivores at different spatial scales. Understanding and closing the loopholes regarding the role of HIPVs can contribute to sustainable pest management in agriculture.