Effects of individual traits vs. trait syndromes on assemblages of various herbivore guilds associated with central European Salix

Leong, J.V., Mezzomo, P., Kozel, P., Volfová, T., de Lima Ferreira, P., Seifert, C.L., Butterill, P.T., Freiberga, I., Michalek, J., Matos-Maraví, P., Weinhold, A., Engström, M.T., Salminen, J.P., Segar, S.T., Sedio, B.E. and Volf, M. (2024) Effects of individual traits vs. trait syndromes on assemblages of various herbivore guilds associated with central European Salix. Oecologia. ISSN 0029-8549

Text S. Segar Effects of individual traits AAM. OCR Upload.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 3 June 2025. Download (1MB)

Abstract

Plants employ diverse anti-herbivore defences that can covary to form syndromes consisting of multiple traits. Such syndromes are hypothesized to impact herbivores more than individual defences. We studied 16 species of lowland willows occurring in central Europe and explored if their chemical and physical traits form detectable syndromes. We tested for phylogenetic trends in the syndromes and explored whether three herbivore guilds (i.e. generalist leaf-chewers, specialist leaf-chewers, and gallers) are affected more by the detected syndromes or individual traits. The recovered syndromes showed low phylogenetic signal and were mainly defined by investment in concentration, richness, or uniqueness of structurally related phenolic metabolites. Resource acquisition traits or inducible volatile organic compounds exhibited a limited correlation to the syndromes. Individual traits composing the syndromes showed various correlations to the assemblages of herbivores from the three studied guilds. In turn, we found some support for the hypothesis that defence syndromes are composed of traits that provide defence against various herbivores. However, individual traits rather than trait syndromes explained more variation for all studied herbivore assemblages. The detected negative correlations between various phenolics suggest that investment trade-offs may occur primarily among plant metabolites with shared metabolic pathways that may compete for their precursors. Moreover, several traits characterizing the recovered syndromes play additional roles in willows other than defence from herbivory. Taken together, our findings suggest that the detected syndromes did not solely evolve as an anti-herbivore defence.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Gallers, Leaf-chewers, Plant–herbivore interactions, Salicinoids, Specialized metabolites
Divisions:	Agriculture and Environment (from 1.08.20)
Depositing User:	Miss Katie O'Connor
Date Deposited:	12 Jul 2024 10:09
Last Modified:	12 Jul 2024 10:09
URI:	https://hau.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/18098

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