How to induce defense responses in wild plant populations? Using bilberry (<i>Vaccinium myrtillus</i>) as example

Seldal, Tarald; Hegland, Stein Joar; Rydgren, Knut; Rodriguez‐Saona, Cesar; Töpper, Joachim

doi:10.1002/ece3.2687

Cited by 12 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…The responses related to plant growth (dry mass) and insect herbivory to MeJA application in the first year (2013) suggest that treated plants rapidly allocate resources from growth to defense. These results corroborate previous studies showing that MeJA application on bilberry ramets reduces insect and mammalian herbivory at the expense of growth and reproduction (Hegland et al., ; Seldal et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Over three consecutive years, we explored plant defense activation in response to exogenous MeJA application in bilberry and its effects on untreated neighboring bilberry ramets under natural field conditions. Inducible plant defense responses are assumed to be energetically costly due to the allocation of resources from growth and reproduction to defense (Karban, Yang, & Edwards, ; Rodriguez‐Saona, Polashock, & Malo, ; Sampedro, Moreira, & Zas, ; Seldal et al., ). Thus, in the first year after treatment, we predicted decreased insect and mammalian herbivory and reduced plant size (growth) and reproduction in MeJA‐treated bilberry ramets compared to untreated controls (prediction I).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiannual effects of induced plant defenses: Are defended plants good or bad neighbors?

Benevenuto

Hegland

Töpper

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Defenses induced by herbivore feeding or phytohormones such as methyl jasmonate (MeJA) can affect growth, reproduction, and herbivory, not only on the affected individual but also in its neighboring plants. Here, we report multiannual defense, growth, and reproductive responses of MeJA‐treated bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) and neighboring ramets. In a boreal forest in western Norway, we treated bilberry ramets with MeJA and water (control) and measured responses over three consecutive years. We observed the treatment effects on variables associated with herbivory, growth, and reproduction in the MeJA‐treated and untreated ramet and neighboring ramets distanced from 10 to 500 cm. MeJA‐treated ramets had fewer grazed leaves and browsed shoots compared to control, with higher effects in 2014 and 2015, respectively. In 2013, growth of control ramets was greater than MeJA‐treated ramets. However, MeJA‐treated ramets had more flowers and berries than control ramets 2 years after the treatment. The level of insect and mammalian herbivory was also lower in untreated neighboring ramets distanced 10–150 cm and, consistent with responses of MeJA‐treated ramets, the stronger effect was also one and 2 years delayed, respectively. The same neighboring ramets had fewer flowers and berries than untreated ramets, indicating a trade‐off between defense and reproduction. Although plant–plant effects were observed across all years, the strength varied by the distance between the MeJA‐treated ramets and its untreated neighbors. We document that induced defense in bilberry reduces both insect and mammalian herbivory, as well as growth, over multiple seasons. The defense responses occurred in a delayed manner with strongest effects one and 2 years after the induction. Additionally, our results indicate defense signaling between MeJA‐treated ramets and untreated neighbors. In summary, this study shows that induced defenses are important ecological strategies not only for the induced individual plant but also for neighboring plants across multiple years in boreal forests.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiannual effects of induced plant defenses: Are defended plants good or bad neighbors?

Benevenuto

Hegland

Töpper

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…The plant is considered as a key food source for herbivores, pollinators, and fruit eating birds and mammals in northern European boreal forest ecosystems (Hegland et al, ; Hjältén, Danell, & Ericson, ; Jacquemart, ; Selas, ), and has been found to be sensitive to environmental changes. In previous studies, we showed that defenses induced by herbivore feeding or treatment with MeJA reduce herbivory and increase reproduction of the damaged or treated plants (Benevenuto et al, ; Hegland, Seldal, Lilleeng, & Rydgren, ; Seldal, Hegland, Rydgren, Rodriguez‐Saona, & Töpper, ). These studies provide evidence of potential trade‐offs between growth and defense in bilberry plants when coping with herbivore attack.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Several studies have shown that inducible defense responses in plants can be activated by exogenous application of MeJA (Baldwin, ; Benevenuto et al, ; Hegland et al, ; Van Dam & Baldwin, ; Yang, Huihui, Xie, & Rantala, ). To achieve the desired concentration of MeJA, 4.1 M MeJA stock (Bedoukian Research, Danbury, CT) was diluted 1:10 with 95% (v/v) ethanol and rediluted with water to get a final concentration of 10 mM MeJA (Seldal et al, ). Ethanol was added to water at the same final concentration as that in the 10‐mM MeJA solution (41:1) for the control.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular and ecological plant defense responses along an elevational gradient in a boreal ecosystem

Benevenuto

Seldal

Polashock

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Plants have the capacity to alter their phenotype in response to environmental factors, such as herbivory, a phenomenon called phenotypic plasticity. However, little is known on how plant responses to herbivory are modulated by environmental variation along ecological gradients. To investigate this question, we used bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) plants and an experimental treatment to induce plant defenses (i.e., application of methyl jasmonate; MeJA), to observe ecological responses and gene expression changes along an elevational gradient in a boreal system in western Norway. The gradient included optimal growing conditions for bilberry in this region (ca. 500 m a.s.l.), and the plant's range limits at high (ca. 900 m a.s.l.) and low (100 m a.s.l.) elevations. Across all altitudinal sites, MeJA‐treated plants allocated more resources to herbivory resistance while reducing growth and reproduction than control plants, but this response was more pronounced at the lowest elevation. High‐elevation plants growing under less herbivory pressure but more resource‐limiting conditions exhibited consistently high expression levels of defense genes in both MeJA‐treated and untreated plants at all times, suggesting a constant state of “alert.” These results suggest that plant defense responses at both the molecular and ecological levels are modulated by the combination of climate and herbivory pressure, such that plants under different environmental conditions differentially direct the resources available to specific antiherbivore strategies. Our findings are important for understanding the complex impact of future climate changes on plant–herbivore interactions, as this is a major driver of ecosystem functioning and biodiversity.

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“…This survey period denotes the first point measurement ( t = 0) of herbivore damage. A branch clipping (i.e., simulation of an artificial herbivory by a vertebrate herbivore) from a grown sapling should have only short‐term and non‐significant effect on subsequent herbivory measurement and plant growth in our experiment (Seldal, Hegland, Rydgren, Rodriguez‐Saona, & Töpper, ; Strauss, Conner, & Rush, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Insect herbivory and herbivores ofFicusspecies along a rain forest elevational gradient in Papua New Guinea

et al. 2020

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Classic research on elevational gradients in plant–herbivore interactions holds that insect herbivore pressure is stronger under warmer climates of low elevations. However, recent work has questioned this paradigm, arguing that it oversimplifies the ecological complexity in which plant–insect herbivore interactions are embedded. Knowledge of antagonistic networks of plants and herbivores is however crucial for understanding the mechanisms that govern ecosystem functioning. We examined herbivore damage and insect herbivores of eight species of genus Ficus (105 saplings) and plant constitutive defensive traits of two of these species, along a rain forest elevational gradient of Mt. Wilhelm (200–2,700 m a.s.l.), in tropical Papua New Guinea. We report overall herbivore damage 2.4% of leaf area, ranging from 0.03% in Ficus endochaete at 1,700 m a.s.l. to 6.1% in F. hombroniana at 700 m a.s.l. Herbivore damage and herbivore abundances varied significantly with elevation, as well as among the tree species, and between the wet and dry season. Community‐wide herbivore damage followed a hump‐shaped pattern with the peak between 700 and 1,200 m a.s.l. and this pattern corresponded with abundance of herbivores. For two tree species surveyed in detail, we observed decreasing and hump‐shaped patterns in herbivory, in general matching the trends found in the set of plant defenses measured here. Our results imply that vegetation growing at mid‐elevations of the elevational gradient, that is at the climatically most favorable elevations where water is abundant, and temperatures still relatively warm, suffers the maximum amount of herbivorous damage which changes seasonally, reflecting the water availability.

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How to induce defense responses in wild plant populations? Using bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) as example

Cited by 12 publications

References 47 publications

Multiannual effects of induced plant defenses: Are defended plants good or bad neighbors?

Multiannual effects of induced plant defenses: Are defended plants good or bad neighbors?

Molecular and ecological plant defense responses along an elevational gradient in a boreal ecosystem

Insect herbivory and herbivores ofFicusspecies along a rain forest elevational gradient in Papua New Guinea

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