Plant-herbivore-community

Our approach is to focus on one group of compounds in one system. We believe this can help identify key gaps in both our knowledge of underlying mechanisms and our ability to construct relevant linkages. This will hopefully facilitate studies of other plant-herbivore-community relationships. Our efforts are at synthesis, not comprehensive review, as thousands of primary papers and many outstanding reviews have been written on this model. Any synthesis suffers from the need to resort to apples-to-oranges comparisons, so we have tried to provide examples from a few common systems. This necessarily emphasizes our own work. 

Hay ME, Steinberg PD (1992) The chemical ecology of plant-herbivore interactions in marine versus terrestrial communities. In Rosenthal J, Berenbaum M (eds) Herbivores their interaction with secondary plant metabolites. Evolutionary and ecological processes, vol. II. Academic, New York, pp 371—413... 

An illuminating example of a community consequence of plant defensive metabolites, and of a grazer s adaptation to exploit its host plant, is the ability of some herbivores to sequester plant-derived secondary metabolites for their own defenses (e.g., Avila 1995 Marin and Ros 2004). In terrestrial systems, several specialist insects can sequester defensive chemicals from their host plants (e.g., Nishida 2002), but in aquatic plant-herbivore systems with a prevalence of generalist herbivores this is less common. However, sea hares (Anaspidea) and some other herbivorous opisthobranch molluscs are known to be able to sequester defenses from their algal foods (Avila 1995 Marin and Ros 2004). For the opisthobranch species that are known to obtain metabolites from their food, algae were the... 

Based on these criteria, coevolution between plants and mammals has not been demonstrated satisfactorily. Coevolution is more likely in simpler plant-animal communities. Lindroth (1988) rated coevolution between herbivorous mammals and their food plants an unsatisfactory maybe . ... 

Chapters in this volume consider how plants use chemicals to defend themselves from insect herbivores the complexity of floral odors that mediate insect pollination tritrophic interactions of plants, herbivores, and parasitoids, and the chemical cues that parasitoids use to find their herbivore hosts the semiochemically mediated behaviors of mites pheromone communication in spiders and cockroaches the ecological dependence of tiger moths on the chemistry of their host plants and the selective forces that shape the pheromone communication channel of moths. 

Hay, M.E. and Steinberg, P.D., The chemical ecology of plant-herbivore interactions in marine vs. terrestrial communities, in Herbivores Their Interactions with Secondary Plant Metabolites Evolutionary and Ecological Processes, Vol. 2, Rosenthal, G. and Berenbaum, M., Eds., Academic Press, San Diego, 1992, 371. 

Lubchenco, J. and Gaines, S.D., A unified approach to marine plant-herbivore interactions. I. Populations and communities, Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 12, 405, 1981. 

Food web—The feeding relationships within an ecological community, including the interactions of plants, herbivores, predators, and scavengers. 

Plant-animal communication that occurs between the primary producers (plants), primary consumers (herbivorous animals) and secondary consumers (carnivorous animals) is one of the most intriguing and sensitive processes in ecosystems. In particular volatile terpenoids play an important role as chemical cues in these interactions below- and above ground and changes in the abiotic environment may disturb this interplay in different phases (Table 94.1, [24]). 

Baldwin IT (2001) An ecologically motivated analysis of plant-herbivore interactions in native tobacco (Update on Nicotiana attenuata). Plant Physiol 127 1449-1458 BaraUe EE, Gros EG (1969) Biosynthesis of cuscohygrine and hyoscyamine in Atropa belladonna from DL-a-iV-methylomithine-methyl- H and DL-5-iV-methylomithine-methyl- H. J Chem Soc, Chem Commun 721... 

Lubchenco J (1978) Plant species diversity in a marine intertidal community importance of herbivore food preference and algal competitive abilities. Am Nat 112 23-39 Lumbang WA, Paul VJ (1996) Chemical defenses of the tropical green seaweed Neomeris annulata Dickie effects of multiple compounds on feeding by herbivores. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 201 185-195... 

Glay K et al.. Herbivores cause a rapid increase in hereditary symbiosis and alter plant community composition, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102 12465—12470,... 

The soil contains millions of seeds per hectare in the seed bank and these individuals are easily overlooked as members of the plant community. The dormant seeds can survive for decades in the soil hence, a population of annual plants does not have to be successful at reproducing every year in order to be sustainable. In contrast, a specialist insect herbivore of that annual species can rarely be sustained in a locaUty without a reUable source of food annually. 

---