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Induced defences in plants reduce herbivory by increasing cannibalism

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, pages 1205–1207 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Plants are attacked by myriad herbivores, and many plants exhibit anti-herbivore defences. We tested the hypothesis that induced defences benefit tomato plants by encouraging insects to eat other members of their species. We found that defences that promote cannibalism benefit tomatoes in two ways: cannibalism directly reduces herbivore abundance, and cannibals eat significantly less plant material. This previously unknown means of defence may alter plant–herbivore dynamics, plant evolution and pathogen transmission.

Plants are not passive bystanders in their interactions with herbivores: plants alter their chemistry, morphology and other components of their phenotype to reduce herbivory1, often using cues from their environment to initiate these defences before any actual attack occurs2,3,4. Because induced defences in plants are so ubiquitous1 and may have important effects on herbivores1,5 and other trophic levels6, fundamental goals in plant–herbivore ecology are to understand the benefits of induced defences to plants in terms of reduced herbivory7, to describe how induced defences operate (for example whether they reduce herbivore feeding, survival or reproduction), and to characterize how plants’ induced defences may affect other organisms6,8. We advance these goals by demonstrating a means by which induced defences in plants reduce herbivory: altering cannibalism among herbivores.

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Figure 1: Induced defences in plants lead to increased rates of cannibalism among herbivores, which result in significant decreases in losses of plant biomass.

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Acknowledgements

Comments from E. Preisser and E. Damschen greatly improved the manuscript. We appreciate artwork by B. Feeny. J.O. was hosted by the Department of Biology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) while writing the manuscript; VCU Biology, the Johnson, Vonesh and Damschen laboratories kindly shared space and equipment for conducting experiments.

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  1. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53704, USA

    John Orrock, Brian Connolly & Anthony Kitchen

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  1. John Orrock
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  2. Brian Connolly
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  3. Anthony Kitchen
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Contributions

J.O. conceived the study; J.O. and B.C. designed the study; A.K.,  B.C. and J.O. conducted the experiments; J.O. performed all analyses and led manuscript preparation; B.C. and A.K. contributed to manuscript revision.

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Correspondence to John Orrock.

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Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Results, Supplementary References, Supplementary Figures 1–5

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Orrock, J., Connolly, B. & Kitchen, A. Induced defences in plants reduce herbivory by increasing cannibalism. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 1205–1207 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0231-6

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