Herbivore-plant Interactions at Northern Latitudes

Herbivore-plant Interactions at Northern Latitudes PDF Author: George O. Batzli
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Herbivore-plant Interactions at Northern Latitudes

Herbivore-plant Interactions at Northern Latitudes PDF Author: George O. Batzli
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Herbivore-plant Interactions at Northers Latitudes

Herbivore-plant Interactions at Northers Latitudes PDF Author: George O. Batzli
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Forages, Volume 2

Forages, Volume 2 PDF Author: Kenneth J. Moore
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119436613
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 968

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Book Description
Forages: The Science of Grassland Agriculture, 7th Edition, Volume II will extensively evaluate the current knowledge and information on forage agriculture. Chapters written by leading researchers and authorities in grassland agriculture are aggregated under section themes, each one representing a major topic within grassland science and agriculture. This 7th edition will include two new additional chapters covering all aspects of forage physiology in three separate chapters, instead of one in previous editions. Chapters will be updated throughout to include new information that has developed since the last edition. This new edition of the classic reference serves as a comprehensive supplement to An Introduction to Grassland Agriculture, Volume I.

Community-Level Consequences of Plant-Herbivore Interactions

Community-Level Consequences of Plant-Herbivore Interactions PDF Author: Tania N. Kim
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Botany
Languages : en
Pages :

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ABSTRACT: Ecological systems are dynamic, yet many experimental studies examine plant-herbivore interactions as from a simple, static, or single perspective. Reciprocal interactions can have profound effects on communities, and ignoring such feedbacks can result in mismatches between theoretical predictions and experimental results. In this dissertation, I examined reciprocal interactions between two plant species, Solanum carolinense and Solidago altissima and their insect herbivores. In chapter 2, I examined how insect herbivores influenced plant competition and coexistence. Theory suggests that herbivores influence plant communities by altering competitive interactions. Because the outcome of competition is influenced by both the per capita competitive ability of plants and demographic processes including density dependence and intrinsic population growth rates, measuring herbivore effects on all these processes is necessary to understand the mechanisms by which herbivores influence plant communities. I fit alternative competition models to data from a response surface experiment conducted over four years to examine how herbivores affected the outcome of competition between two perennial plants, Solanum carolinense and Solidago altissima . Within a growing season, herbivores reduced Solanum plant size, but did not affect Solidago, which exhibited compensatory growth. Across seasons, herbivores did not affect the density of Solanum but reduced both the density and population growth of Solidago. The best fit models indicated that the effects of herbivores varied with year. In some years, herbivores increased the per capita competitive effects of Solidago on Solanum; in other years herbivores influenced the intrinsic population growth rates of Solidago. I examined herbivore effects on the longer-term outcome of competition (over the time-scale of a typical old-field habitat) using simulations based on the best fit models. In the absence of herbivores, plant coexistence was observed. In the presence of herbivores, Solanum was excluded by Solidago in 60% of the simulations. I demonstrated that herbivores can influence the outcome of competition through both changes in per capita competitive effects and changes in demographic processes. I discuss the implications of these results for ecological succession and biocontrol. In chapter 3, I examined how plant community composition influenced damage patterns on plants. Neighboring plants can increase (associational susceptibility) or decrease (associational resistance) the likelihood of damage to a focal plant but their long-term consequences for plant competition and coexistence are unclear. Neighbor effects on damage can occur through changes in the relative density of the focal plant (i.e., frequency of the focal plant), the absolute density of the focal plant, or through the total density of plants, because the different mechanisms known to influence damage patterns (e.g., pest suppression by predators, herbivore foraging behavior, plant quality) respond to different features of the neighborhood. To examine the long-term consequences of neighbor effects for plant communities, an understanding of how density and frequency of plants influence damage is needed. Using a response surface experimental design, I examined the effects of plant density and frequency on damage to Solanum carolinense. I found non-linear effects of the frequency of heterospecific neighbors (Solidago altissima) on Solanum damage, and a positive effect of Solanum density on damage. The non-linear pattern suggests that multiple mechanisms may be operating to influence damage. Non-linear patterns may be common in other habitats but might be overlooked because traditional neighborhood studies use a very narrow range of densities in their experiments. I encourage future neighborhood studies to use response surface designs to determine the prevalence of non-linear relationships in nature. In chapter 4, I examined how neighborhood composition (i.e. plant density and frequency) influenced four mechanisms known to influence damage to plants (predator suppression, foraging behavior of herbivores, plant quality, and microclimate) using a response surface experimental design. An associational effect was observed between Solanum damage and the frequency of a heterospecific neighbor (Solidago altissima). Predator abundance and richness, soil moisture, and herbivore foraging strategies were all influenced by the frequency of Solidago, suggesting that these mechanisms may contribute to associational susceptibility in this interaction. Other mechanisms (microclimate and plant quality) were influenced by Solidago and total plant densities, respectively. This study showed that different mechanisms can be influenced by different components of the neighborhood and most likely interacts to influence damage to plants. I discuss the implications of these finding for agriculture and for understanding the long-term consequences of damage for plant communities. In chapter 5, I examined how herbivory, herbivore community composition, plant nutrient content, and herbivore performance varied with latitude. A longstanding theory in biogeography is that species interactions, including herbivory, are stronger in southern latitudes compared to those in the north. Because of this, the latitudinal gradients (LG) hypothesis in damage and plant defenses predicts that plants should be better defended in the tropics because selection for plant defenses is greater. Recent empirical studies suggest that the predictions from this hypothesis may be limited to a narrow range of systems (e.g. salt marshes). In efforts to understand why LG in herbivory and plant defenses are not prevalent as once thought, I examined relationships between herbivore abundance and richness, plant nutrient content, and latitude in old-field systems. I also examined latitudinal gradients in herbivore performance using generalist and specialist herbivores. Some relationships with latitude matched predictions from the LG hypothesis (e.g. plant nutrient content, damage to Solidago altissima), while others had opposite relationships (e.g. herbivore abundance and richness, damage to Solanum carolinense), and some relationships varied with leaf longevity. Herbivore responses varied with diet specialization and the exact relationship with latitude (linear, non-linear, positive, negative, or no relationship) varied with herbivore species. These results suggest that the predictions from the LG hypothesis are too simple; a more thorough investigation of relationships between herbivore abundance, damage, and plant resistance in other wide-ranging systems is needed.

Variable plants and herbivores in natural and managed systems

Variable plants and herbivores in natural and managed systems PDF Author: Robert Denno
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0323142877
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 735

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Book Description
Variable Plants and Herbivores in Natural and Managed Systems examines individual, population, species, and community responses of herbivores to plant variation, with emphasis on insects, fungi, bacteria, and viruses. It is divided into five parts encompassing 18 chapters that discuss variability as a mechanism of defense used by plants against their parasites and the effects of variability on herbivores at several different levels of complexity. After a brief discussion on plant-herbivore interactions, the first part of this book considers sources of within-plant variation and effects on the distribution and abundance of herbivores. Part II examines interplant variation, the co-evolutionary problems it poses for herbivores, and the ecological and evolutionary responses of these animals. It discusses the effects of host-plant variability on the fitness of sedentary herbivorous insects. Part III discusses the role of host variability in the evolution of feeding specialization, genetic differentiation, and race formation. The importance of host variation to the organization of herbivore communities and the manipulation of host-plant variability for the management of herbivore pest populations are presented in the remaining parts. This book will be helpful to agriculturists, silviculturists, biologists, and researchers who wish to expand their knowledge in dynamics of plant-herbivore relationships.

Evolutionary Ecology of Plant-Herbivore Interaction

Evolutionary Ecology of Plant-Herbivore Interaction PDF Author: Juan Núñez-Farfán
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030460126
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
Plant-herbivore interactions are a central topic in evolutionary ecology. Historically, their study has been a cornerstone for coevolutionary theory. Starting from classic ecological studies at the phenotypic level, it has since expanded to molecular and genomic approaches. After a historical perspective, the book’s subsequent chapters cover a wide range of topics: from populations to ecosystems; plant- and herbivore-focused studies; in natural and in man-modified ecosystems; and both micro- and macro-evolutionary levels. All chapters include valuable background information and empirical evidence. Given its scope, the book will be of interest to both students and researchers, and will hopefully stimulate further research in this exciting field of evolutionary biology.

Plant Defenses Against Mammalian Herbivory

Plant Defenses Against Mammalian Herbivory PDF Author: R. Thomas Palo
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9780849365508
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
This volume summarizes what is currently known about mammalian herbivore-plant interaction, particularly as governed by plant secondary chemistry, and suggests productive avenues for future research. Topics covered include foraging theory and plant chemistry in mammal herbivory; the evolution of herbivory in relation to plant defenses; factors controlling resource allocation to defenses in plants; mechanisms by which herbivorous mammals can counter plant defenses to gain necessary energy and nutrients; and herbivory in deserts, temperate and tropical forests, and boreal forests. Wildlife biologists, agriculturalists, physiologists, nutritionists, ecologists, evolutionary biologists and other researchers interested in mammalian herbivore-plant interaction will find a tremendous store of useful information in this unique book.

Novel Herbivore-plant Interactions

Novel Herbivore-plant Interactions PDF Author: Ian Seth Pearse
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781267239402
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Understanding ecological invasions and the impacts of novel species interactions is one of the most important issues in modern ecology and evolution. Novel plants, including weeds, crop plants, and ornamentals are a common, almost ubiquitous feature of modern, human-influenced ecosystems. A striking observation is that in almost all cases, some herbivores adopt these non-native host plants, while other herbivore species do not. Conversely, some non-native plants accumulate many herbivores in their invaded range, while others accumulate few --a tenet of the longstanding Enemy Release Hypothesis. Understanding the variation in herbivore use of exotic plants is thus an issue of major importance, as it will impact ecological dynamics including extinctions, colonizations, range expansions, patterns of biodiversity, evolutionary processes such as host-shifts, and ultimately speciation. Variation in host use also has a strong influence on two of the most critical applied ecological problems of today: plant invasions and sustainable agriculture. The question of which non-native plants will get colonized by which herbivores is inextricably linked to the evolution of plant traits that affect herbivore colonization and the evolution of herbivore traits that affect their host-affiliations. As such, a comparative approach in understanding relevant traits of non-native plants, herbivore traits, and herbivore associations with non-native plants may help to create a framework for understanding the assembly of herbivore communities on non-native plants. This dissertation attempts to create a framework for predicting establishment of herbivore communities on non-native plants and to develop non-native oaks as a system for understanding the colonization of non-native plants. In the first chapter, I describe in depth the theoretical bases for predicting herbivore communities on novel plants. I suggest that the basis for predicting novel herbivore-plant interactions must take into account the host-breadth of an herbivore, the defensive investment of the novel plant, and trait matching between the novel interactors. In the second and third chapters, I apply this theory to oak taxa planted outside of their range using observations from oaks planted in arboreta. The amount of damage that non-native oak species experience was strongly predicted by the evolutionary relationship between the non-native oak and a local native oak species. Interestingly, the damage to these non-native trees was not related to the typical defensive traits that people commonly survey in oaks, suggesting that a more subtle suite of traits accounts for the ability of most herbivores to switch hosts between oak species. In contrast, the fourth chapter, I report the results of feeding trials with a common, generalist herbivore, which do respond strongly to typical oak defenses (such as tannins and leaf toughness). This suggests that very generalist herbivores may track "defensive" leaf traits to a greater degree than the rest of the herbivore community when establishing novel host-affiliations. A novel interaction between a plant and an herbivore is at least in part determined by plant traits. In the fifth and sixth chapters, I describe the evolution of oak traits that affect herbivore associations considering both normal macro-evolutionary processes as well as hybridization. I find that oak defensive traits have undergone strong convergence during the evolution of the genus Quercus. Moreover, these traits track aspects of the abiotic environment such as temperature seasonality and drought intensity. When hybridization occurs between oak species, the resulting hybrid's leaf traits were typically intermediate of its parental species indicating that these traits are inherited additively even during hybridization. In the final chapter, I focus on leaf phenology as a particularly important trait in driving the association of herbivores with non-native plants. I found that oak species, which retained only a portion of their leaves throughout winter, accumulated a higher abundance of leaf miners than oak species that were either totally deciduous or evergreen. I attribute trend to the observation that evergreen trees had very tough leaves over summer and accumulated few leaf miners late in the season. Completely deciduous trees lost all of their leaves in winter and had to be recolonized each year by a new set of leaf miners.

Ecology of Arctic Environments

Ecology of Arctic Environments PDF Author: Sarah J. Woodin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521839983
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Once thought of as a pristine environment, it is now all too apparent that the Arctic is a sink for pollutants transported northwards over long distances in the atmosphere and oceans, and is also likely to be subject to major climate change as a result of global warming. Many ecologists are currently seeking to further our understanding of how arctic ecosystems function, and to detect and predict anthropogenic changes which may occur within them. This book, resulting from a British Ecological Society Special Symposium, addresses these issues.

Ecology Abstracts

Ecology Abstracts PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 728

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Book Description
Indexes journal articles in ecology and environmental science. Nearly 700 journals are indexed in full or in part, and the database indexes literature published from 1982 to the present. Coverage includes habitats, food chains, erosion, land reclamation, resource and ecosystems management, modeling, climate, water resources, soil, and pollution.