Effects of herbivory and genotype on growth and survivorship of sand-dune willow (Salix cordata)

Abstract.

• 1 The response of different clones of sand-dune willow, Salix cordata, to herbivory by a specialist herbivore, Altica subplicata, was studied in three glasshouse experiments. Plants were caged and exposed to three herbivory treatments: no beetles, low number of beetles, and high number of beetles.
• 2 Plants consistently had significantly higher growth rates in the absence of herbivory than under conditions of low or high herbivory (1.5–6 times higher).
• 3 Herbivore treatment influenced mortality from drought stress; more plants from the low and high herbivory treatments (40% and 80%) died from drought stress than did control plants (0%).
• 4 Clone genotype significantly influenced growth rates and the susceptibility of plants to drought stress. However, clones showed similar growth responses to herbivory, suggesting a lack of genetic variation in tolerance or resistance to herbivory.

     

Can tolerance traits impose selection on herbivores?

Plant tolerance reduces the fitness consequences of herbivore and natural enemy damage, while resistance reduces the amount of damage suffered. In contrast to resistance, tolerance is often assumed to not affect herbivore performance and evolution. Evidence from the literature, however, suggests that it is possible for plant tolerance to affect herbivore performance and evolution, and potentially plant–herbivore coevolution. First, for cases when genetic correlations between resistance and tolerance are due to pleiotropy, the genes and loci for tolerance and resistance are the same, and as such both traits will affect herbivore performance directly. Second, it is possible that the physiological basis and mechanisms of plant tolerance – for example, changes in plant physiology and resource allocation – directly alter herbivore fitness characters. In this paper, I review the evidence for these potential effects of plant tolerance on herbivore performance, and suggest straightforward experiments to evaluate these possibilities. More generally, I propose that this untested assumption is constraining our view of plant–herbivore coevolution.     

Plant tolerance and resistance in food webs: community-level predictions and evolutionary implications

While evolutionary ecologists emphasize different ways in which plants can evolutionarily respond to herbivory, such as resistance or tolerance, community ecology has lagged in its understanding of how these different plant traits can influence interactions, abundance, composition, and diversity within more complex food webs. In this paper, we present a series of models comparing community level outcomes when plants either resist or tolerate herbivory. We show that resistance and tolerance can lead to very different outcomes. A particularly important result is that resistant species should often coexist locally with other, less resistant competitors, whereas tolerant species should not be able to coexist locally with less tolerant competitors, although priority effects allow them to coexist regionally. We also use these models to suggest some insights into the evolution of these traits within more complex communities. We emphasize how understanding the differential effects of plant tolerance and resistance in food webs provides greater appreciation of a variety of empirical patterns that heretofore have appeared enigmatic. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Will plant vigor and tolerance be genetically correlated? Effects of intrinsic growth rate and self-limitation on regrowth

Plants are known to maintain fitness despite herbivore attack by a variety of damage-induced mechanisms. These mechanisms are said to confer tolerance, which can be measured as the slope of fitness over the proportion of plant biomass removed by herbivore damage. It was recently supposed by Stowe et al. (2000) that another plant property, general vigor, has little effect on tolerance. We developed simple models of annual monocarpic plants to determine if a genetic change in components of growth vigor will also change the fitness reaction to damage. We examined the impact of intrinsic growth rate on the tolerance reaction norm slope assuming plants grow geometrically, i.e., without self-limitation. In this case an increase in intrinsic growth rate decreases tolerance (the reaction norm slope becomes more negative). A logistic growth model was used to examine the impact of self-limiting growth on the relationship between intrinsic growth rate and the tolerance reaction norm slope. With self-limitation, the relationship is sensitive to the timing of attack. When attack is early and there is time for regrowth, increasing growth rate increases tolerance (slope becomes less negative). The time limitations imposed by late attack prevent appreciable regrowth and induce a negative relationship between growth rate and tolerance. In neither of these simple cases will the correlation between vigor and tolerance constrain selection on either trait. However, a positive correlation between growth rate and self-limitation will favor fast growth/strong self-limitation in a high-damage environment, but slow growth/weak self-limitation in a low-damage environment. Thus, fundamental growth rules that determine vigor have constitutive effects on tolerance. The net costs and benefits of damage-induced tolerance mechanisms will thus be influenced by the background imposed by fundamental growth rules. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

From seed to seedling: A critical transitional stage for the Mediterranean psammophilous species Dianthus morisianus (Caryophyllaceae)

Abstract

Seed germination, seedling emergence and seed persistence in the soil were investigated for Dianthus morisianus (Caryophyllaceae), a psammophilous endemic species of Sardinia. Stored and freshly collected seeds were incubated in a range of constant temperatures (5–25°C) and an alternating temperature regime (25/10°C). The effect of seed burial depth on seedling emergence was investigated under controlled environmental conditions. Seed persistence in the soil was verified by in situ experimental seed burials. Seeds of this species were non-dormant, and all seed lots germinated both in the light and darkness, mainly at low temperatures (≤20°C), with a maximum at 15°C (≥95%). Optimal seedling emergence was obtained when seeds were buried at a depth of 1–2 cm, and a declining emergence with increasing depth was observed. D. morisianus was also unable to form a persistent soil seed bank. The fate of the seeds that, after dispersal, do not emerge from the soil in the spring is, therefore, presumably to die before the next favourable growing season.     

风吹、沙埋对沙地植物幼苗生长和光合蒸腾特性的影响

为了掌握风吹、沙埋对沙地植物一些生理生态学特性的影响,2006—2007年在科尔沁沙地对优势固沙植物小叶锦鸡儿进行了风吹和沙埋试验。风吹试验设为对照(不吹风)、软风(2m.s-1)、微风(4m.s-1)、和风(6m.s-1)和劲风(8m.s-1)5个处理;沙埋试验设为对照、轻度、中度、重度和严重沙埋5个处理,沙埋深度分别为株高的0%、33%、66%、100%和133%。结果表明:软风(2m.s-1)的持续风吹可使植物叶片蒸腾速率和净光合速率略有下降,和风(6m.s-1)和劲风(8m.s-1)的持续风吹可促进其蒸腾速率和净光合速率明显增加,而微风(4m.s-1)的持续风吹对植物蒸腾速率和光合速率影响不明显;轻度沙埋可以同时促进植物地上茎叶和地下根系的生长和生物产量的提高,中度沙埋仅可促进其根系生长和生物产量的提高,但对其高生长有一定抑制作用,重度沙埋和严重沙埋可对其生长造成严重威胁,甚至导致死亡;锦鸡儿作为沙地一种优势固沙植物能够通过生长调节和生理调节来适应一定程度的风吹和沙埋,因而对风沙环境具有较强的适应性,但重度或严重风吹、沙埋仍然会导致其严重受损,甚至死亡,因此采用锦鸡儿进行植物固沙时应注意不要将其种植在...     

海岸单叶蔓荆沙埋胁迫下碳水化合物变化与其耐沙埋的关系

选择烟台海岸沙地抗沙埋强的单叶蔓荆(Vitex trifolia var.simplicifolia)为试材,在自然环境条件下根据单叶蔓荆匍匐茎长度进行了轻度(1/3茎长)、中度(2/3茎长)和重度半埋以及全埋处理。在沙埋20d后,测定了不同沙埋处理下匍匐茎各段上匍匐茎长度、枝条高度、不定根长度,以及可溶性糖、淀粉、纤维素含量,以探讨单叶蔓荆碳水化合物变化和转化在其耐沙埋中作用。结果显示,在轻度、中度半埋和全埋下单叶蔓荆匍匐茎长度均显著大于对照,被沙埋匍匐茎处有大量不定根生成;同时,可溶性糖和淀粉含量增高和纤维素含量下降,尤其是生长最快的匍匐茎顶部(如轻度半埋),茎中可溶性糖较低、淀粉增加最多,纤维素最低。但是被重度半埋和全埋的匍匐茎生长较少,茎中纤维素含量较多、淀粉含量较少。研究表明,沙埋是一种胁迫,它损伤叶片、扰乱碳水化合物代谢平衡。但它又是胁迫信号使植物产生适应性反应,它使未遭沙埋的匍匐茎顶端通过加速碳水化合物转化、分解纤维素、提高淀粉和可溶性糖含量,为顶端生长提供能量和营养,以加速匍匐茎快速生长摆脱沙埋。同时沙埋部位枝叶通过分解其纤维素,产生更多的可溶性糖和淀粉为匍匐茎不定根生长提供能量。因此,沙埋后匍匐茎内碳水化合物的转化是其快速生长和摆脱沙埋的能量来源而在其适应沙埋生长中起重要作用。单叶蔓荆对沙埋的适应性反应表现了其具有表型可塑性特性,该特性是其沙埋后维护匍匐茎顶部快速生长、不定根形成、碳水化合物转化以及具有较高抗沙埋能力的关键。     

土埋深度影响物种水平的种子质量-种子出苗关系

种子出苗对种间关系和群落组成具有重要影响。种内研究表明种子质量与种子出苗之间存在正相关关系, 但这种关系很少在物种水平进行检验, 尤其是在不同土壤埋藏深度条件下。为此, 该文开展了一个因子实验(10种植物和5种土埋深度(0、1、2、4和8 cm))以检验是否在不同土层中“种子质量-种子出苗之间的正相关关系”始终存在。该文在不同土埋深度播种50粒种子(重复5次), 连续30天观测种子出苗, 并提出了一个耐土埋性指标。结果表明: (1) 10种植物的最适出苗深度为0-2 cm土层; 6种植物的最大出苗率发生在1 cm土埋深度。(2)种子质量与耐土埋性之间存在显著的正相关关系, 种子质量越大耐土埋性越强, 适宜出苗的土层越深。(3)当土层较深(4或8 cm)时, 种子出苗率和持续出苗时间随种子质量增加而增大, 种子出苗率与持续出苗时间之间存在正相关关系; 这些关系在较浅土层(0、1或2 cm)并不存在。这些结果有助于进一步理解种子大小与出苗之间的关系, 以及种子出苗过程中的策略。     

Ontogenetic switches from plant resistance to tolerance: minimizing costs with age?

Changes in herbivory and resource availability during a plant's development should promote ontogenetic shifts in resistance and tolerance, if the costs and benefits of these basic strategies also change as plants develop. We proposed and tested a general model to detect the expression of ontogenetic tradeoffs for these two alternative anti-herbivory strategies in Raphanus sativus . We found that ontogenetic trajectories occur in both resistance and tolerance but in opposite directions. The juvenile stage was more resistant but less tolerant than the reproductive stage. The ontogenetic switch from resistance to tolerance was consistent with the greater vulnerability of young plants to leaf damage and with the costs of resistance and tolerance found at each stage. We posit that the ontogenetic perspective presented here will be helpful in resolving the current debate on the existence and detection of a general resistance–tolerance tradeoff.     

Structure, Pattern and Mechanisms of Formation of Seed Banks in Sand Dune Systems in Northeastern Inner Mongolia, China

A comparison of structure and pattern of the soil seed bank was made between active and stabilized sand dunes in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. The objective of this paper was to determine the significance of seed bank in vegetation restoration of sand dunes. The results showed that (1) average seed density decreased from stabilized sand dune to interdune lowland of stabilized sand dune, to interdune lowland of active sand dune, and to active sand dune; (2) horizontally, along the transect from interdune lowland to ecotone and to sand dune top, a ‘V’ shaped pattern was presented in the active dune system, and a reverse ‘V’ shaped pattern in the stabilized sand dune system; (3) vertically, the proportion (accounting for the total seeds) of seeds found in 0–20 mm soil profile decreased from stabilized sand dune to interdune lowland of stabilized sand dune, to interdune lowland of active sand dune, and to active sand dune. The same order was also found in 20–50 mm and 50–100 mm soil profiles; (4) the Sokal and Sneath similarity indices in the species-composition between soil seed bank and above-ground vegetation were ranked as: the stabilized sand dune (24%) > the interdune lowland of active sand dune (21%) > the interdune lowland of stabilized sand dune (18%) > the active sand dune (5%); and (5) vegetation restoration of active sand dunes depends on the dispersal of seeds from nearby plant communities on the interdune lowlands. Much effort must be made to preserve the lowlands, as lowlands are the most important seed reservoir in the active sand dune field.