Complex consequences of herbivory and interplant cues in three annual plants

Information exchange (or signaling) between plants following herbivore damage has recently been shown to affect plant responses to herbivory in relatively simple natural systems. In a large, manipulative field study using three annual plant species (Achyrachaena mollis, Lupinus nanus, and Sinapis arvensis), we tested whether experimental damage to a neighboring conspecific affected a plant's lifetime fitness and interactions with herbivores. By manipulating relatedness between plants, we assessed whether genetic relatedness of neighboring individuals influenced the outcome of having a damaged neighbor. Additionally, in laboratory feeding assays, we assessed whether damage to a neighboring plant specifically affected palatability to a generalist herbivore and, for S. arvensis, a specialist herbivore. Our study suggested a high level of contingency in the outcomes of plant signaling. For example, in the field, damaging a neighbor resulted in greater herbivory to A. mollis, but only when the damaged neighbor was a close relative. Similarly, in laboratory trials, the palatability of S. arvensis to a generalist herbivore increased after the plant was exposed to a damaged neighbor, while palatability to a specialist herbivore decreased. Across all species, damage to a neighbor resulted in decreased lifetime fitness, but only if neighbors were closely related. These results suggest that the outcomes of plant signaling within multi-species neighborhoods may be far more context-specific than has been previously shown. In particular, our study shows that herbivore interactions and signaling between plants are contingent on the genetic relationship between neighboring plants. Many factors affect the outcomes of plant signaling, and studies that clarify these factors will be necessary in order to assess the role of plant information exchange about herbivory in natural systems.     

Experimental clipping of sagebrush inhibits seed germination of neighbours

Current views of plant communities emphasize the importance of competition for resources and colonization ability in determining seedling establishment and plant distributions. Many desert shrubs are surrounded by bare zones that lack other plants or have different suites of species beneath them compared with the open desert surrounding them. Releases of biochemicals as volatiles from leaves, leachates from litter, or exudates from roots have been proposed as mechanisms for this pattern, but such phytotoxicity has been controversial. I tested the hypothesis that experimental clipping of sagebrush foliage enhances its effect as a germination inhibitor. Germination of native forbs and grasses was reduced in association with clipped, compared with unclipped, sagebrush foliage in lath house and field experiments. Sagebrush seeds were not significantly affected. Air contact was required for this inhibition of germination. Soil contact and leaf litter were not required and added little inhibition of germination. These results suggest a potentially large, indirect, and previously overlooked role for interactions between herbivory and germination that could affect plant community structure.     

Environmental conditions affecting the strength of induced resistance against mites in cotton

Summary Spider mites (Tetranychus urticae) were raised on cotton plants that had been damaged by a previous bout of mite feeding (T. turkestani) and on control plants that were previously not exposed to mites. The effect of induced plant responses upon mite populations was variable ranging from a 4-fold reduction in population growth to no difference at all. The strength of induced resistance was greatest when the population growth of mites was low for other, unknown, reasons. When mite population growth on control plants was great, the effects of induced resistance were diminished.Mite population growth was inversely related to levels of initial damage caused by previous feeding. There was no evidence of a damage threshold that needed to be exceeded before induced resistance became effective. Increased levels of initial damage were not associated with morphological changes in the plants.     

Cyclic 3', 5'-AMP relay dictyostelium discoideum. V. Adaptation of the cAMP signaling response during cAMP stimulation

In dictyostelium discoideum, extracellular cAMP activates adenylate cyclase, which leads to an increase in intracellular cAMP and the rate of cAMP secretion. The signaling response to a constant cAMP stimulus is terminated after several minutes by an adaptation mechanism. The time- course of adaptation stimuli of 10(-6) or 10(-7) M cAMP was assessed. We used a perfusion technique to deliver defined cAMP stimuli to [(3)H]adenosine-labeled amoebae and monitored their secretion of [(3)H]cAMP. Amoebae were pretreated with 10(-6) or 10(-7) M cAMP to periods of 0.33-12 minutes, and then immediately given test stimuli of 10(-8) M to 2.5 x 10(-7) M cAMP. The response to a given test stimulus was progressively attenuated and finally extinguished as the duration of the pretreatment stimulus increased. During concentration of the test stimulus. The responses to test stimuli of 10(-8), 5 x 10(-8), 10(-7), or 2.5 x 10(-7) M cAMP were extinguished after approximately 1, 2.25,2.5, and 10 min, respectively. 1.5 min of stimulation with 10(-7) M cAMP was necessary to extinguish the response of a test stimulus of 10(-8) M cAMP. Our data suggest that adaptation begins within 20 s of stimulation, rises rapidly for approximately 2.5 min, and reaches a plateau after approximately 10 min. The absolute rate of rise was faster during pretreatment with 10(-6) than with 10(-7) M cAMP. These results support a working hypothesis in which the occupancy of surface cAMP receptors leads to changes in two opposing cellular processes, excitation and adaptation, that control the activity of D. discoideum adenylate cyclase.     

Predator-mediated apparent competition between two herbivores that feed on grapevines

We have been releasing economically unimportant herbivorous mites of one species early in the season and protecting grapevines against another, more damaging herbivorous mite throughout the growing season. In this experiment, releases of economically unimportant Willamette mites alone, or of predatory mites alone, failed to reduce populations of the damaging Pacific spider mite. However, where both herbivorous Willamette mites and predatory mites were released together populations of Pacific mites were reduced. This interaction between effects of Willamette mites and predatory mites suggests that predation against Pacific mites was more effective where alternate prey (Willamette mites) were available for the predators. The apparent competition between Willamette mites and Pacific mites, mediated through their shared predator, can be an important force in the agroecosystem although its importance varies from year to year and vineyard to vineyard.     

Induced resistance to herbivores and the information content of early season attack

Current models of induced plant defenses all assume that herbivory is predictable. Present damage must provide information about the likelihood of future attack. We tested this assumption by measuring the relationship between damage early in the season and the number of subsequent attacks by cotton leaf perforators, Bucculatrix thurberiella, to plants of wild cotton, Gossypium thurberi, at three sites in the Sonoran desert. Damage early in the season was a good predictor of the number of new mines initiated throughout the season for plants in Florida Canyon. This result was neither evidence for nor against induced resistance nor was it a consequence of induced resistance. This is because induced resistance has been found to affect survival of miners but previous damage did not affect the initiation of new mines. At two other sites, early damage was not related to future attacks. This difference in predictability of attack may be related to inducibility of plants since Florida Canyon was the only site that provided evidence of induced resistance in a previous study. We found no evidence that the usefulness of information based on early season damage decreased as the season progressed. Assessment of attacks on all shoots of the plant was more useful at predicting later damage to an assay shoot than was assessment of solely the assay shoot. Number of mines, produced only by G. thurberiella, was a better predictor of subsequent attacks by G. thurberiella than were chews and rasps which were made by many different herbivores. However, general chewing damage was a better indicator of the level of induction against G. thurberiella than was the more specific mining damage. Plants may respond more to chewing damage even though mining damage is a better predictor of future attacks.     

The geographic apportionment of mitochondrial genetic diversity in east African chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii

This study is a geographically systematic genetic survey of the easternmost subspecies of chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii. DNA was noninvasively collected in the form of shed hair from chimpanzees of known origin in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zaire. Two hundred sixty-two DNA sequences from hypervariable region 1 of which of the mitochondrial control region were generated. Eastern chimpanzees display levels of mitochondrial genetic variation which are low and which are similar to levels observed in humans (Homo sapiens). Also like humans, between 80% and 90% of the genetic variability within the eastern chimpanzees is apportioned within populations. Spatial autocorrelation analysis shows that genetic similarity between eastern chimpanzees decreases clinically with distance, in a pattern remarkably similar to one seen for humans separated by equivalent geographic distances. Eastern chimpanzee mismatch distributions (frequency distributions of pairwise genetic differences between individuals) are similar in shape to those for humans, implying similar population histories of recent demographic expansion. The overall pattern of genetic variability in eastern chimpanzees is consistent with the hypothesis that the subject has responded demographically to paleoclimatically driven changes in the distribution of eastern African forests during the recent Pleistocene.      

Colonization of new host plant individuals by locally adapted thrips

This study considered the dispersal and subsequent reproduction of Apterothrips aptens a wingless, folivorous thrips species that is divided into local populations, each adapted to its individual host plant We placed host plants with no thrips into the field and observed the rate at which thrips colonized these plants Colonization events were rare, on average each pot received 1 47 immigrants during the year Immature thrips were found associated with 64 59c of these events, indicating that reproduction had occurred Colonization was most likely to occur during the summer Most colonists walked onto the new host and airborne movements were very rare Plants that were located far from near neighbors were less likely to be colonized although the size of nearby source populations did not influence the rate of colonization
These results suggest that limited movement is associated with division of this population into isolated demes Limited movement appeared to be more important as a barner to successful colonization than was demographic success following arrival at a new host plant