Tetranychus evansi spider mite populations suppress tomato defenses to varying degrees.

ABSTRACT: Plant defense suppression is an offensive strategy of herbivores, in which they manipulate plant physiological processes to increase their performance. Paradoxically, defense suppression does not always benefit the defense-suppressing herbivores, because lowered plant defenses can also enhance the performance of competing herbivores and can expose herbivores to increased predation. Suppression of plant defense may therefore entail considerable ecological costs depending on the presence of competitors and natural enemies in a community. Hence, we hypothesize that the optimal magnitude of suppression differs among locations. To investigate this, we studied defense suppression across populations of Tetranychus evansi spider mites, a herbivore from South America that is an invasive pest

SUBMITTER: Knegt B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7246200 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature