A field experiment with elevated atmospheric CO2-mediated changes to C4 crop-herbivore interactions

• Published in: Scientific reports 2015-09, Vol.5 (1), p.13923-13923, Article 13923
• Main Authors: Xie, Haicui, Liu, Kaiqiang, Sun, Dandan, Wang, Zhenying, Lu, Xin, He, Kanglai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/601/1466; 64; 704/158/1745; 96/106; Animals; Atmosphere; Biomass; Carbohydrates; Carbon Dioxide; Climate change; Cold; Corn; Crops, Agricultural; Experiments; Fertilizers; Fitness; Flowers & plants; Food consumption; Food plants; Food quality; Herbivores; Herbivory; Humanities and Social Sciences; Larvae; Metabolism; Moths; multidisciplinary; Nitrogen; Nutrient deficiency; Nutritive value; Overwintering; Photosynthesis; Science; Supercooling; Zea mays - chemistry; Zea mays - parasitology; Zea mays - physiology
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep13923

The effects of elevated CO 2 (E-CO 2 ) on maize and Asian corn borer (ACB), Ostrinia furnacalis , in open-top chambers were studied. The plants were infested with ACB and exposed to ambient and elevated (550 and 750 μl/l) CO 2 . E-CO 2 increased the plant height and kernel number per ear. The plants had lower nitrogen contents and higher TNC: N ratios under E-CO 2 than at ambient CO 2 . The response of plant height to E-CO 2 was significantly dampened in plants with ACB infestation. However, the weight gain of the survivors declined in plants grown under E-CO 2 . Moreover, the plant damage caused by ACB was not different among the treatments. Overwintering larvae developed under E-CO 2 had a lower supercooling point than those developed under ambient CO 2 . The results indicated that there was a positive effect of E-CO 2 on the accumulation of maize biomass, i.e., the “air-fertilizer” effect, which led to a nutritional deficiency in the plants. The fitness-related parameters of ACB were adversely affected by the CO 2 -mediated decreased in plant nutritional quality and ACB might alter its food consumption to compensate for these changes. Larval damage to maize under E-CO 2 appears to be offset by this “air-fertilizer” effect, with reductions in larval fitness.