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Lobelia siphilitica plants that escape herbivory in time also have reduced latex production
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 5, p e37745 (2012), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2012.
-
Abstract
- Flowering phenology is an important determinant of a plant's reproductive success. Both assortative mating and niche construction can result in the evolution of correlations between phenology and other reproductive, functional, and life history traits. Correlations between phenology and herbivore defence traits are particularly likely because the timing of flowering can allow a plant to escape herbivory. To test whether herbivore escape and defence are correlated, we estimated phenotypic and genetic correlations between flowering phenology and latex production in greenhouse-grown Lobelia siphilitica L. (Lobeliaceae). Lobelia siphilitica plants that flower later escape herbivory by a specialist pre-dispersal seed predator, and thus should invest fewer resources in defence. Consistent with this prediction, we found that later flowering was phenotypically and genetically correlated with reduced latex production. To test whether herbivore escape and latex production were costly, we also measured four fitness correlates. Flowering phenology was negatively genetically correlated with three out of four fitness estimates, suggesting that herbivore escape can be costly. In contrast, we did not find evidence for costs of latex production. Generally, our results suggest that herbivore escape and defence traits will not evolve independently in L. siphilitica.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Heredity
Latex
lcsh:Medicine
Plant Science
Plant Genetics
01 natural sciences
Plant defense against herbivory
Biologiska vetenskaper
lcsh:Science
Flowering Plants
0303 health sciences
Multidisciplinary
Ecology
biology
Phenology
food and beverages
Lobelia siphilitica
Plants
Biological Sciences
Trophic Interactions
Phenotypes
Phenotype
Community Ecology
Plant Physiology
Research Article
Lobelia
Flowers
010603 evolutionary biology
Life history theory
03 medical and health sciences
Plant-Environment Interactions
Genetics
Herbivory
Biology
030304 developmental biology
Evolutionary Biology
Herbivore
Reproductive success
Plant Ecology
Assortative mating
fungi
lcsh:R
15. Life on land
biology.organism_classification
Species Interactions
Evolutionary Ecology
lcsh:Q
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 7
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....988620e71a5bfe764207d812f1378c12