Plant palatability and trait responses to experimental warming

Abstract

Climate warming is expected to significantly affect plant-herbivore interactions. Even though direct effects of temperature on herbivores were extensively studied, indirect effects of temperature (acting via changes in host plant quality) on herbivore performance have rarely been addressed. We conducted multiple-choice feeding experiments with generalist herbivore Schistocerca gregaria feeding on six species of genus Impatiens cultivated at three different temperatures in growth chambers and a common garden. We also studied changes in leaf morphology and chemistry. We tested effects of temperature on plant palatability and assessed whether the effects could be explained by changes in the leaf traits. The leaves of most Impatiens species experienced the highest herbivory when cultivated at the warmest temperature. Traits related to leaf morphology (specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content and leaf area), but not to leaf chemistry, partly mediated the effects of temperature on plant palatability. Herbivores preferred smaller leaves with lower specific leaf area and higher leaf dry matter content. Our study suggests that elevated temperature will lead to changes in leaf traits and increase their palatability. This might further enhance the levels of herbivory under the increased herbivore pressure, which is forecasted as a consequence of climate warming.

The importance of ecophysiological traits in response of Festuca rubra to changing climate

“…Thus, plants are likely to profit from rising temperature, but rising precipitation will inhibit this positive effect. Inconsistency in the direction of response to climate change among different traits has also been shown in other systems (Dostálek et al, 2020;Münzbergová et al, 2020;Veselá et al, 2020), indicating that multiple traits need to be studied to get a complete picture on species responses to climate change.…”

Comparative transcriptomics of sevenImpatiensspecies

“…Seeds of model species were collected from natural populations in autumn 2017 in Nepal (Supplementary Table S1) by M. Rokaya for purpose of our previous studies (26). Permission for the collection of plant material was obtained from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation in Nepal to Dr. Rokaya.…”

“…We used mean temperatures from March to June since it represents premonsoon period when most Impatiens species germinate and start to grow. For further details on plant cultivation see (26, 31) using the same plants for studies dealing with species trait variation and attractivity to herbivores.…”

“…Seeds of model species were collected from natural populations in autumn in Nepal (Supplementary Table S1) by M. Rokaya for purpose of our previous studies (26) Impatiens species germinate and start to grow. For further details on plant cultivation see (26,31) using the same plants for studies dealing with species trait variation and attractivity to herbivores.…”

“…Because of its large distribution and high diversity, evolution and adaptation of this genus is widely studied from ecological perspective (25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33). On the other hand, genus Impatiens is not deeply studied at the molecular level.…”