The plastic reproductive allocation of the cruciferous perennialRorippa indica in response to different degrees of feeding damage

The degree of feeding damage in the wild to the cruciferous perennial Rorippa indica (L.) Hieron ranged from 0% (not damaged) to 100% (heavily damaged). However, “not damaged” and “heavily damaged” individuals did not differ in the relative suitability of their intrinsic traits for P. rapae, which caused the heaviest damage on the plant. Therefore, the different degrees of feeding damage may be due to variability in the extrinsic traits of the plant, that is, it may be determined by the habitat conditions where individual plants exist. Furthermore, R. indica allocated more resource to seed production at the expense of the roots when it was experimentally subjected to heavy leaf damage. The result suggested that R. indica individuals may escape, by means of seed dispersal and seed dormancy, from unfavorable habitats where they are heavily damaged by herbivores.