Effect of Plant Defenses and Plant Nutrients on the Performance of Specialist and Generalist Herbivores of Datura : A Macroevolutionary Study

• Published in: Plants (Basel) 2023-07, Vol.12 (14), p.2611
• Main Authors: Kariñho-Betancourt, Eunice, Vázquez-Lobo, Alejandra, Núñez-Farfán, Juan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alkaloids; Biomass; Carbon; coevolution; Datura; Defense mechanisms; Ecological effects; Efficiency; Eigenvectors; Flowers & plants; Food; Food consumption; generalist herbivore; herbivore performance; Herbivores; Insects; Larval development; Leaves; Nitrogen; Nutrient balance; Nutrients; Nutritive value; Performance assessment; Performance prediction; Phosphorus; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Plant species; Plants; Plants (botany); Scopolamine; specialist herbivore; Species; Toxins; Trichomes; Tropane alkaloids; Variables
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants12142611

Macroevolutionary patterns in the association between plant species and their herbivores result from ecological divergence promoted by, among other factors, plants' defenses and nutritional quality, and herbivore adaptations. Here, we assessed the performance of the herbivores , a trophic specialist on , and , a polyphagous pest herbivore, when fed with species of . We used comparative phylogenetics and multivariate methods to examine the effects of species' tropane alkaloids, leaf trichomes, and plant macronutrients on the two herbivores´ performances (amount of food consumed, number of damaged leaves, larval biomass increment, and larval growth efficiency). The results indicate that species of do vary in their general suitability as food host for the two herbivores. Overall, the specialist performs better than the generalist herbivore across species, and performance of both herbivores is associated with suites of plant defenses and nutrient characteristics. Leaf trichomes and major alkaloids of the species are strongly related to herbivores' food consumption and biomass increase. Although hyoscyamine better predicts the key components of the performance of the specialist herbivore, scopolamine better predicts the performance of the generalist; however, only leaf trichomes are implicated in most performance components of the two herbivores. Nutrient quality more widely predicts the performance of the generalist herbivore. The contrasting effects of plant traits and the performances of herbivores could be related to adaptive differences to cope with plant toxins and achieve nutrient balance and evolutionary trade-offs and synergisms between plant traits to deal with a diverse community of herbivores.