Macroecological and macroevolutionary patterns of leaf herbivory across vascular plants

Abstract

The consumption of plants by animals underlies important evolutionary and ecological processes in nature. Arthropod herbivory evolved approximately 415 Ma and the ensuing coevolution between plants and herbivores is credited with generating much of the macroscopic diversity on the Earth. In contemporary ecosystems, herbivory provides the major conduit of energy from primary producers to consumers. Here, we show that when averaged across all major lineages of vascular plants, herbivores consume 5.3% of the leaf tissue produced annually by plants, whereas previous estimates are up to 3.8Â higher. This result suggests that for many plant species, leaf herbivory may play a smaller role in energy and nutrient flow than currently thought. Comparative analyses of a diverse global sample of 1058 species across 2085 populations reveal that models of stabilizing selection best describe rates of leaf consumption, and that rates vary substantially within and among major plant lineages. A key determinant of this variation is plant growth form, where woody plant species experience 64% higher leaf herbivory than non-woody plants. Higher leaf herbivory in woody species supports a key prediction of the plant apparency theory. Our study provides insight into how a long history of coevolution has shaped the ecological and evolutionary relationships between plants and herbivores.

Insect herbivory from early Permian Mitchell Creek Flats of north-central Texas: Opportunism in a balanced component community

“…Insect herbivores at MCF exhibited a clear preference for the most abundant or most apparent foliar taxon, Taeniopteris spp., although minimal but nevertheless proportionately greater herbivory was present in the second most abundant group, the gigantopterids. This pattern of herbivory suggests that the herbivores at MCF, like many modern herbivores, preferentially targeted more common and conspicuous taxa (Hacker and Bertness, 1995;Turcotte et al, 2014). These observations are consistent with the plant apparency hypothesis of Feeny (1976).…”

“…These data indicate that the "self-assembly" of insect herbivores into a more-or-less complete spectrum of FFGs may be a fundamental aspect of the evolution of arthropod herbivores (Futuyma and Mitter, 1996). This parallels other deep-time evolutionary and ecological processes such as host-plant shifts, diversification events of plants and their insect associates, as well as an overall increase in herbivory of the host plants (Futuyma and Agrawal, 2009;Turcotte et al, 2014).…”

The ghost of the Cretaceous terrestrial revolution in the evolution of fern–sawfly associations

“…This pattern may be partly explained by the requirement of sawflies to adapt to the chemical composition as well as physiological traits of their food plants (see Cooper-Driver, 1985;Vermeij, 1994). A strong bias may have also resulted from the form of the food plant's frequency and habit, for example, woodiness (e.g., Hendrix, 1980;Turcotte et al, 2014). This argument is consistent with the observation of bracken (Pteridium) as the most utilized fern genus (Table 1).…”

“…The interpretation of the results requires the consideration of several factors influencing the utilization of plants by insects. First, food preferences of phytophagous insects are likely to be constrained by plant growth form, for example, woodiness and abundance in ecosystems (Auerbach & Hendrix, 1980;Hendrix, 1980;Turcotte et al, 2014). Second, the uneven distribution of species diversity among the main lineages of vascular plantswith the ca.…”

Plant Antiherbivore Defense in Diverse Environments

“…Low percentage can be explained to tough needle tissue and the presence of terpenoid resins [48]. Herbivory is low in temperate forest tree canopies, and the highest foliar damage occurs in high-quality leaves as youngest [49], it is more probably that the trunk is attacked by bark beetles [3].…”