Chemical Mediation of Plant-herbivore Interactions in Mediterranean Ecosystems

Chemical Mediation of Plant-herbivore Interactions in Mediterranean Ecosystems PDF Author: Giovanna Massei
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Chemical Mediation of Plant-herbivore Interactions in Mediterranean Ecosystems

Chemical Mediation of Plant-herbivore Interactions in Mediterranean Ecosystems PDF Author: Giovanna Massei
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 28

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Plant-animal interactions in Mediterranean-type ecosystems

Plant-animal interactions in Mediterranean-type ecosystems PDF Author: Margarita Arianoutsou-Faraggitaki
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401109087
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
The Sixth International Conference on Mediterranean Climate ecosystems was held at Maleme (Crete), Greece, from September 23 to September 27, 1991. This conference had as its theme 'Plant-Animal Interactions in Mediterranean-type Ecosystems'. Most of the papers presented to that meeting have already been published (see Thanos, C.A. ed., 1992, Proceedings of the VI International Conference on Mediterranean Climate Ecosystems, Athens, 389 pp.). These 57 papers were all necessarily short. But the theme of plant-animal interactions was considered by the Organizing Committee to be so important to a fundamental understanding of the ecology of Mediterranean-climate ecosystems and to an enhanced management ·of those systems that various international research scientists were invited to prepare longer contributions on major aspects of the overall theme. The Book that follows represents the result of those invitations. All five regions of Mediterranean climate are represented - Chile, California, southern Australia and the Cape Province of South Africa, as well as the Mediterranean Basin itself.

Ecological Chemicals as Ecosystem Function Mediators adn Potential Lead Pharmaeuticals

Ecological Chemicals as Ecosystem Function Mediators adn Potential Lead Pharmaeuticals PDF Author: Charles S. Vairappan
Publisher: Universiti Malaysia Sabah Press
ISBN: 9672962940
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 95

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Book Description
The relationship between functioning ecosystem services and human well-being has been established as a bridge connecting nature and society. It has also become a central pillar of sustainability science that dictates the paradigms ofbsustainable development. The conceptual framework that systematically integrates the important roles played by natural ecological chemicals by establishing empirical links between nature and ecology not only varies but lacks clear support. The value of ecological chemicals as ecosystem derived natural of products warrants explicit acknowledgement, only then trade- offs between services and prioritization of policy can be realised. In the last 20 years, important roles played by the ecological chemicals in Bornean terrestrial and marine ecosystems were investigated and reported. Terrestrial plants produce Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs) and structurally interesting secondary metabolites that facilitate their ecological processes that areaimed to establish communication such as defence, attraction, deterrent and territorial marking. Some of the most commonly utilized herbs and plants of traditional medicine importance showed very interesting chemical constituents, hence justify their traditional utilization for human well-being. The role of VOCs that originated from animal diet and emitted through decomposition of faeces was traced back to their important role as attractants of insects, particularly dung beetles that facilitates the remineralization of faeces and returns carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) to the soil to replenish global C and N sinks. Marine flora and fauna are perhaps the most vivid producers of structurally interesting secondary metabolites with more than one ecological function. Halogenated secondary metabolites produced by red algae genus Laurencia are unique in theirstructural design and exhibited multiple biological potentials. Similarly, soft corals in the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion (SSME) produced a huge diversity of terpenoids and function as feeding deterrents of these soft-bodied invertebrates. Ecological chemicals obtained from the Bornean biodiversity also exhibited a wide array of medically important biological activities such as anti-microbial and anti-anticancer, also serves as important array of lead pharmaceuticals. Some of these compounds are very potent and have been patented as lead- pharmaceutical candidates from Bornean natural products.

Herbivores: Their Interactions with Secondary Plant Metabolites

Herbivores: Their Interactions with Secondary Plant Metabolites PDF Author: Gerald A. Rosenthal
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 032313940X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
It has been more than ten years since the first edition of this book was published. During this time, our understanding of the interactions between plants and the animals that consume them, as mediated by secondary compounds (allelochemicals) of plants, has grown dramatically. In the Herbivores: Their Interactions with Secondary Plant Metabolites, Second Edition, only those areas of research where significant progress has been made since 1979 are included, and most of the contributing authors are new. This edition has been split into two volumes due to the vast amount of new material that has been generated on this subject. Both volumes will be of interest to evolutionary biologists, agriculturists, chemists, biochemists, physiologists, and ecologists. Volume 1, provides an exhaustive update and review of the chemical and biochemical bases for the role and function of allelochemicals in their defense against herbivores. Volume 2, scheduled for publication in April 1992, provides a current update of the research on the ecological roles and evolutionary nature of secondary plant metabolites in their interactions among plants and as protective agents against environmental stresses such as consumption by herbivores.

Mediation of Plant-herbivore Interactions by Resource Sharing in Clonal Plants

Mediation of Plant-herbivore Interactions by Resource Sharing in Clonal Plants PDF Author: Christopher Mitchell O'Neal
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Herbivores, Their Interaction with Secondary Plant Metabolites

Herbivores, Their Interaction with Secondary Plant Metabolites PDF Author: Gerald A. Rosenthal
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 800

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Book Description
Part I. Ecological and evolutionary processes: Evolution of plant chemical defense against herbivores; The distribution of secondary compounds within plants; Mechanism of plant avoidance of autotoxicity by secondary metabolites, especially by nonprotein amino acids; How animal perceive secondary compounds; Biochemical defense mechanisms in herbivores against plant allelochemicals; Plant resources for chemical defense; Interaction of allelochemicals with nutrients in herbivore food; New horizons in the biology of plant defenses. Part II. The chemical participants: Naturally occurring, toxic nonprotein amino acids; Cyanide and cyanogenic glycosides; The evolutionary ecology of alkaloids; Toxic seed lipids; Chemistry and biological effect of glucosinolates; Sesquiterpene lactones and other terpenoids; Saponins; Phytohemagglutinins; Proteinase inhibitors; Flavonoid pigments; Tannins and lignins; Insect hormone and antihormones in plants.

The Ecological Effects of Herbivore-specific Induced Plant Responses

The Ecological Effects of Herbivore-specific Induced Plant Responses PDF Author: Danush Vasan Viswanathan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780494159934
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Feeding by herbivorous arthropods often induces phenotypic responses in their host plants. Such responses are increasingly found to be herbivore-specific, as both their strength and type can vary with herbivore identity. To date, most research has focused on discerning the causes, whether functional or evolutionary, of this specificity. However, recent studies have suggested that it can also have strong ecological effects on the distribution and occurrence of herbivores. Using Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade), I established a consistent ecological pattern within its herbivore community that is driven by specificity in plant responses: early-season differences in the identity of colonizing herbivores induce divergent plant phenotypes, producing heterogeneity in resource quality and a predictable distribution of late-season herbivores. These priority effects (i.e., differences in later herbivore occurrence caused by the identity of initial herbivores) seem to have their temporal basis in a physiological tradeoff within the plant, as it is unable to sequentially respond to different herbivore species. The responses associated with a particular herbivore occur only when it is the first species to feed on the plant. If its feeding follows that of a different herbivore, these responses are no longer induced. Chemical antagonism between different signaling pathways in the plant may underlie these results, in which case we may be able to predict the occurrence of priority effects based on knowledge of the response pathways induced by different herbivores. However, the spatial scale of these interactions can also influence their strength. I found that the presence of multiple plant phenotypes has a greater effect on herbivore occurrence within stands of S. dulcamara than it does between them. Fragmentation of S. dulcamara populations reduces the likelihood of herbivores moving between plants, thereby reducing the degree to which they can discriminate between different plant phenotypes. Overall, therefore, a combined knowledge of the chemical basis and ecological context of plant-herbivore interactions may be essential when examining the dynamics of herbivore communities.

Marine Chemical Ecology

Marine Chemical Ecology PDF Author: James B. McClintock
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1420036602
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 626

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Book Description
The interdisciplinary field of marine chemical ecology is an expanding and dynamic science. It is no surprise that the breadth of marine organisms studied expanded in concert with developments in underwater technology. With its up-to-date subject reviews by experts, Marine Chemical Ecology is the most current, comprehensive book on the subject. The

Exploring the Local and Regional Effects of Plant Diversity on Plant Herbivore Interactions

Exploring the Local and Regional Effects of Plant Diversity on Plant Herbivore Interactions PDF Author: Diego Salazar (Ph.D.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Animal-plant relationships
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The study of biological diversity and its effects on ecosystem functioning and species interactions has always been a fundamental part of biology. The accelerating loss of species in conjunction with an increasing change in the natural environment has underlined the importance of the role that biodiversity has on the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of natural systems. In this dissertation I explore the effect of local and regional patterns of plant diversity in plant-herbivore interactions. Furthermore, this work goes beyond the classical concepts of taxonomical diversity and investigates the role of phylogenetic and chemical diversity on plant-herbivore interactions. In chapter one I explore the patters of herbivore diversity along latitudinal gradient by following to widely distributed Piper species from Mexico to Bolivia. Here I show how that changes in herbivore diversity along this latitudinal gradient are likely changing the nature and intensity of the evolutionary herbivore pressures experienced by plants. In chapter two I examine how non-random patterns of seed dispersal by bats are increasing local understory Piper diversity. Furthermore, I show how these changes in local diversity are also reducing Piper herbivore damage due to possible resource dilution effects. This represents the first evidence of a direct link between seed dispersal and plant herbivore interactions. In chapter three I explore the relationship between inter-specific chemical diversity and intra-specific chemical variation. Here I put forward the potential association between the number of dominant secondary compounds present in a particular Piper species and the relative ecological value that said compounds have. Finally, in chapters four and five I use a metabolomic approach to investigate the role that Piper chemical diversity at the community has on species coexistence and community assembly. Here I show how natural Piper communities are more chemically diverse than expected by chance. This section also shows that Piper communities with higher chemical diversity have less herbivore damage. As a unit, this work provides strong evidence of the importance of taxonomical and chemical diversity for plant herbivore interaction.

Plant-derived Natural Products

Plant-derived Natural Products PDF Author: Anne E. Osbourn
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387854983
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 588

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Book Description
Plants produce a huge array of natural products (secondary metabolites). These compounds have important ecological functions, providing protection against attack by herbivores and microbes and serving as attractants for pollinators and seed-dispersing agents. They may also contribute to competition and invasiveness by suppressing the growth of neighboring plant species (a phenomenon known as allelopathy). Humans exploit natural products as sources of drugs, flavoring agents, fragrances and for a wide range of other applications. Rapid progress has been made in recent years in understanding natural product synthesis, regulation and function and the evolution of metabolic diversity. It is timely to bring this information together with contemporary advances in chemistry, plant biology, ecology, agronomy and human health to provide a comprehensive guide to plant-derived natural products. Plant-derived natural products: synthesis, function and application provides an informative and accessible overview of the different facets of the field, ranging from an introduction to the different classes of natural products through developments in natural product chemistry and biology to ecological interactions and the significance of plant-derived natural products for humans. In the final section of the book a series of chapters on new trends covers metabolic engineering, genome-wide approaches, the metabolic consequences of genetic modification, developments in traditional medicines and nutraceuticals, natural products as leads for drug discovery and novel non-food crops.