Plant defence, an evolutionary dilemma: contrasting effects of (specialist and generalist) herbivores and natural enemies |
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| Authors: | Eddy van der Meijden |
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| Affiliation: | (1) Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences, University of Leiden, P.O. Box 9516, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands |
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| Abstract: | Conclusions Contrasting effects of generalist and specialist herbivores can explain why all plants have not evolved high levels of defence. Maintenance of variation in concentration of defence substances can be explained by a shifting balance between natural selection for defence against herbivory by specialists and generalists. Generalist natural enemies will shift the optimal defence curve to lower concentrations of defences. Physiological costs of production of defence substances and selection by specialist herbivores of plant phenotypes with higher levels of defence compounds for sequestration are no essential elements of this model. They may, however, adjust the predicted optimum defence function and contribute to maintenance of variation of concentrations of defence substances. |
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| Keywords: | Cynoglossum officinale
secondary plant metabolites herbivory pyrrolizidine alkaloids evolutionary theory optimization constraints |
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