Plant nutrient supply determines competition between phytophagous insects |
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Authors: | Joanna T Staley David B Stafford Emma R Green Simon R Leather John T Rossiter Guy M Poppy Denis J Wright |
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Institution: | 1Division of Biology, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK;2NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BB, UK;3Division of Biology, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK;4School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Hampshire SO16 7PX, UK |
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Abstract: | Indirect competition is often mediated by plant responses to herbivore feeding damage and is common among phytophagous insect species. Plant-mediated responses may be altered by abiotic conditions such as nutrient supply, which can affect plant growth, morphology, and the concentration of primary and secondary metabolites. Nutrient supply can be manipulated by the type and amount of fertilizer applied to a plant. Brassica oleracea plants were grown in several types of fertilizer, including those commonly used in sustainable and conventional agricultural systems. The occurrence of indirect competition between two phytophagous species from different feeding guilds (a phloem-feeder and leaf-chewer) was assessed. The leaf-chewer reduced aphid populations on plants growing in most fertilizer treatments, but not on those in the ammonium nitrate fertilizer treatment, which caused the highest concentration of foliar nitrogen. The potential consequences of our findings are discussed for phytophagous species in conventional and sustainable agricultural systems. |
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Keywords: | Brevicoryne brassicae glucosinolate induced defence nitrogen plant-mediated competition Plutella xylostella |
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