Diversity of structure and antiherbivore activity in condensed tannins

We characterized the structure of condensed tannins from 16 woody plant species (seven genera, six families) and determined their effects on six herbivorous insect species (four genera, two families). There were major differences in tannin structure, even between congeneric plant species. Condensed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology (Durham) 1997-09, Vol.78 (6), p.1696-1712
Main Authors: Ayres, Matthew P., Clausen, Thomas P., MacLean, Stephen F., Redman, Ahnya M., Reichardt, Paul B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biochemistry
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
Chemical ecology
CHEMICAL STRUCTURE
COMPOSICION QUIMICA
COMPOSITION CHIMIQUE
Concepts
condensed tannin
DEFENCE MECHANISMS
Demecology
detoxification
Ecology
ESTRUCTURA QUIMICA
Flowers & plants
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
HERBIVORE
HERBIVORES
HERBIVOROS
herbivory
Insect ecology
insect growth
Insect larvae
INSECTA
Insects
MECANISME DE DEFENSE
MECANISMOS DE DEFENSA
Physiological aspects
Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection
Phytophagous insects
Plant biochemistry
plant defense
plant defenses
Plants
Plants and fungi
Protozoa. Invertebrates
Records, symptoms, damages, economic importance, population surveys
STRUCTURE CHIMIQUE
TANINOS
TANNIN
TANNINS
Trees
Woody plants
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Summary:We characterized the structure of condensed tannins from 16 woody plant species (seven genera, six families) and determined their effects on six herbivorous insect species (four genera, two families). There were major differences in tannin structure, even between congeneric plant species. Condensed tannins differed markedly in their antiherbivore activity, averaged over these herbivores, and the herbivores differed in their sensitivity, averaged over these tannins. Furthermore, the same tannin can have different effects on different herbivores, presumably because of interactions between tannin structure and gut physiology. Results challenge the view that tannins provide an evolutionarily stable plant defense because of their uniform chemical properties. Condensed tannin can sometimes impact herbivore fitness through effects on survival and growth, but the largest effects in 45 insect-tannin combinations were less than that of many other plant metabolites at lower doses. Even at high doses, condensed tannins frequently had no strong antiherbivore activity, even against insects with no evolutionary history of encountering the tannin (
ISSN:0012-9658
1939-9170
DOI:10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078[1696:DOSAAA]2.0.CO;2