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Optimal defense theory explains deviations from latitudinal herbivory defense hypothesis.

Nicholas J Kooyers1,2,3, Benjamin K Blackman1,2, Liza M Holeski4

  • 1Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22904, USA.

Ecology
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PubMed
Summary

Plant defense compounds, phenylpropanoid glycosides (PPGs), are higher at higher latitudes, contradicting the latitudinal herbivory defense hypothesis (LHDH). Growing season length, not latitude, drives these plant defense patterns.

Keywords:
Mimulus guttatus (common monkeyflower)biogeographychemical defenseclineflowering timegenetic constraintherbivorylatitudinal herbivory defense hypothesislife historyoptimal defense theoryphenylpropanoid glycosides

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Plant Science

Background:

  • The latitudinal herbivory defense hypothesis (LHDH) suggests increased herbivory at lower latitudes drives greater plant defenses.
  • Optimal defense theory posits that the cost of defense, influenced by ecogeographic factors like growing season length, can also shape defense clines.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate genetic variation in plant defense compounds across a latitudinal gradient.
  • To disentangle the effects of latitude from growing season length on plant defense strategies in Mimulus guttatus.

Main Methods:

  • Conducted a common garden experiment with 35 Mimulus guttatus populations spanning a ~13° latitudinal transect.
  • Quantified genetic variation for constitutive and induced phenylpropanoid glycoside (PPG) concentrations.
  • Analyzed associations between latitude, growing season length, temperature, elevation, and PPG levels, controlling for population structure.

Main Results:

  • Found significant associations between latitude and plant defense for five of seven PPGs, but contrary to LHDH, total PPGs were higher at higher latitudes.
  • PPG levels strongly correlated with growing season length; longer growing seasons were associated with higher PPG concentrations.
  • Flowering time positively correlated with PPG concentrations, indicating a potential trade-off between development time and defense investment.

Conclusions:

  • Ecogeographic patterns in plant defense are influenced by the costs of producing defense compounds, not solely by herbivore pressure.
  • The LHDH may be inaccurate as factors like growing season length, which drive defense variation, are not consistently correlated with latitude.
  • Future LHDH research should integrate life history considerations and focus on isolating specific agents of selection driving spatial variation in defense.