Hervé Maxime R, Erb Matthias
University of Rennes, Inra, Agrocampus Ouest, IGEPP, UMR-A 1349, Campus Beaulieu, Avenue du Général Leclerc, 35000, Rennes, France.
Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, Bern, Switzerland.
Oecologia. 2019 Sep;191(1):127-139. doi: 10.1007/s00442-019-04479-w. Epub 2019 Jul 31.
Root-feeding insect herbivores are of substantial evolutionary, ecological and economical importance. Plants defend themselves against insect herbivores through a variety of tolerance and resistance strategies. To date, few studies have systematically assessed the prevalence and importance of these strategies for root-herbivore interactions across different plant species. Here, we characterize the defense strategies used by three different grassland species to cope with a generalist root herbivore, the larvae of the European cockchafer Melolontha melolontha. Our results reveal that the different plant species rely on distinct sets of defense strategies. The spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) resists attack by dissuading the larvae through the release of repellent chemicals. White clover (Trifolium repens) does not repel the herbivore, but reduces feeding, most likely through structural defenses and low nutritional quality. Finally, the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) allows M. melolontha to feed abundantly but compensates for tissue loss through induced regrowth. Thus, three co-occurring plant species have evolved different solutions to defend themselves against attack by a generalist root herbivore. The different root defense strategies may reflect distinct defense syndromes.
以根部为食的昆虫食草动物在进化、生态和经济方面具有重要意义。植物通过多种耐受和抗性策略来抵御昆虫食草动物。迄今为止，很少有研究系统地评估这些策略在不同植物物种与根部食草动物相互作用中的普遍性和重要性。在这里，我们描述了三种不同草原物种用于应对一种多食性根部食草动物——欧洲金龟子幼虫（Melolontha melolontha）的防御策略。我们的结果表明，不同的植物物种依赖于不同的防御策略组合。矢车菊（Centaurea stoebe）通过释放驱避化学物质来劝阻幼虫，从而抵抗攻击。白三叶草（Trifolium repens）并不排斥食草动物，但很可能通过结构防御和低营养质量来减少其取食。最后，普通蒲公英（Taraxacum officinale）允许欧洲金龟子大量取食，但通过诱导再生来补偿组织损失。因此，三种共生植物物种进化出了不同的解决方案来抵御多食性根部食草动物的攻击。不同的根部防御策略可能反映了不同的防御综合症。
