Time-size trade-offs in responses of cycads to male cone herbivory

Plant-arthropod pollination mutualisms based on adults as pollinators and juveniles as predators of reproductive structures are understood to be successful by balancing the benefits of pollination with the antagonisms of herbivory. In a recent paper, I showed that Cycas micronesica male cone herbivory by larvae of the pollinator moth Anatrachyntis species hastened the plant's subsequent reproductive event. In this mutualism, both pollination and predation elicit distinct increases in plant fitness. The results support a resource tradeoff within an optimal-allocation model whereby cone disposal by the pollinator juveniles reduces reproductive costs. Many cycad species exhibit an annual coning season that is fixed by the environment, and in those cases the trade-off may be expressed as plasticity in cone size or cone number. Conservation plans would benefit from understanding the consequences of the lack of natural cone herbivory in ex situ germplasm management.