J.P. Rosenthal is at the Dept of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Trends Ecol Evol. 1994 Apr;9(4):145-8. doi: 10.1016/0169-5347(94)90180-5.
Damage to plants by herbivores is ubiquitous and sometimes severe. Tolerance is the capacity of a plant to maintain its fitness through growth and reproduction after sustaining herbivore damage. Recent physiological and ecological work indicates that tolerance mechanisms are numerous and varied. Some of the plant traits involved may reflect selection by herbivores, while others are likely to be by-products of selection for other ecological functions. Similarly, some tolerance mechanisms may participate In trade-offs with plant defence, while many do not. Regardless of its ultimate origin or physiological relationship to plant defence, tolerance often may Influence the evolution of plant defence and the composition of plant communities.
草食动物对植物的损害普遍存在，有时甚至非常严重。耐受性是指植物在遭受草食动物损害后通过生长和繁殖来维持其适应性的能力。最近的生理和生态研究表明，耐受性机制众多且多样。一些涉及的植物特征可能反映了草食动物的选择，而另一些则可能是选择其他生态功能的副产品。同样，一些耐受性机制可能与植物防御有关，但许多则没有。无论其最终起源或与植物防御的生理关系如何，耐受性通常可能影响植物防御的进化和植物群落的组成。
