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Plant defense against herbivory or host-plant resistance is a range of adaptations evolved by plants which improve their survival and reproduction by reducing the impact of herbivores. Many plants produce secondary metabolites , known as allelochemicals , that influence the behavior, growth, or survival of herbivores.
Herbivores are dependent on plants for food, and have coevolved mechanisms to obtain this food despite the evolution of a diverse arsenal of plant defenses against herbivory. Herbivore adaptations to plant defense have been likened to "offensive traits" and consist of those traits that allow for increased feeding and use of a host. [1]
For example, jasmonic acid can be used to simulate an herbivore attack on plants and thus, induce plant defences. [19] The use of jasmonic acid on tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) resulted in plants with fewer but larger fruits, longer ripening time, delayed fruit-set, fewer seeds per plant and fewer seeds per unit of fruit weight. [20]
Tolerance is the ability of plants to mitigate the negative fitness effects caused by herbivory. It is one of the general plant defense strategies against herbivores, the other being resistance, which is the ability of plants to prevent damage (Strauss and Agrawal 1999). Plant defense strategies play important roles in the survival of plants as ...
Plants are able to determine what types of herbivore species are present, and will react differently given the herbivore's traits. If certain defense mechanisms are not effective, plants may turn to attracting natural enemies of herbivore populations. For example, wild tobacco plants use nicotine, a neurotoxin, to defend against herbivores ...
An example of a plant allelochemical are alkaloids that can inhibit protein synthesis in herbivores. Other forms of plant defense include mechanical defenses such as thigmonasty movements which have the plant leaves close in response to tactile stimulation. Indirect mechanisms plant include shedding of plant leaves so less leaves are available ...
The back and forth relationship of plant defense and herbivore offense drives coevolution between plants and herbivores, resulting in a "coevolutionary arms race". [ 48 ] [ 64 ] The escape and radiation mechanisms for coevolution, presents the idea that adaptations in herbivores and their host plants, has been the driving force behind speciation .
These compounds that trigger a response in plants are known as elicitors or herbivore-associated molecular patterns (HAMPs). [11] These HAMPs trigger signalling pathways throughout the plant, initiating its defence mechanism and allowing the plant to minimise damage to other regions.