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Induced responses to herbivory and increased plant performance
1Department of Entomology, and Center for Population Biology, One Shields Avenue, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95616-8584, USA.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
|March 4, 1998
Abstract:
Plant resistance to herbivores was induced in a field experiment to evaluate the consequences of induced responses for subsequent herbivory and plant fitness. Induction early in the season resulted in halving of herbivory by chewing herbivores and a reduction in the abundance of phloem-feeding aphids when compared with controls. A correlate of lifetime plant fitness, seed mass, was enhanced by over 60 percent for individuals that were induced.