Testing the optimal defense hypothesis in nature: Variation for glucosinolate profiles within plants.

ABSTRACT: Plants employ highly variable chemical defenses against a broad community of herbivores, which vary in their susceptibilities to specific compounds. Variation in chemical defenses within the plant has been found in many species; the ecological and evolutionary influences on this variation, however, are less well-understood. One central theory describing the allocation of defenses in the plant is the Optimal Defense Hypothesis (ODH), which predicts that defenses will be concentrated in tissues that are of high fitness value to the plant. Although the ODH has been repeatedly supported within vegetative tissues, few studies have compared vegetative and reproductive tissues, and the results have not been conclusive. We quantified variation in glucosinolate profile and tissue value between vege

SUBMITTER: Keith RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5521783 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature