Specificity of herbivore-induced responses in an invasive species, Alternanthera philoxeroides (alligator weed).

ABSTRACT: Herbivory-induced responses in plants can both negatively affect subsequently colonizing herbivores and mitigate the effect of herbivory on the host. However, it is still less known whether plants exhibit specific responses to specialist and generalist herbivores in non-secondary metabolite traits and how specificity to specialists and generalists differs between invasive and native plant populations. We exposed an invasive plant, Alternanthera philoxeroides, to Agasicles hygrophila (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae; specialist), Spodoptera litura (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae; generalist), manual clipping, or application of exogenous jasmonic acid and examined both the specificity of elicitation in traits of fitness (e.g., aboveground biomass), morphology (e.g., root:shoot ratio),

SUBMITTER: Liu M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5756832 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature