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Plant defense against herbivory or host-plant resistance (HPR) 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.
Herbivore adaptations to plant defense. 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 ...
Herbivore modification is when various adaptations to body or digestive systems of the herbivore allow them to overcome plant defenses. This might include detoxifying secondary metabolites , [ 47 ] sequestering toxins unaltered, [ 48 ] or avoiding toxins, such as through the production of large amounts of saliva to reduce effectiveness of defenses.
Plant tolerance to herbivory. 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 ...
Prickles on a blackberry branch. In plant morphology, thorns, spines, and prickles, and in general spinose structures (sometimes called spinose teeth or spinose apical processes), are hard, rigid extensions or modifications of leaves, roots, stems, or buds with sharp, stiff ends, and generally serve the same function: physically defending plants against herbivory.
Plants and herbivores have co-evolved together for 350 million years. Plants have evolved many defense mechanisms against insect herbivory. Such defenses can be broadly classified into two categories: (1) permanent, constitutive defenses, and (2) temporary, inducible defenses. [1] Both types are achieved through similar means but differ in that ...
Herbivores could increase plant diversity or decrease plant diversity. [1] Loss of plant diversity due to climate change can also affect herbivore and plant community relationships [2] Herbivores are crucial in determining the distribution, abundance, and diversity of plant populations. Research indicates that by consuming large amounts of ...
The green world hypothesis proposes that predators are the primary regulators of ecosystems: they are the reason the world is 'green', by regulating the herbivores that would otherwise consume all the greenery. [ 1][ 2] It is also known as the HSS hypothesis, after Hairston, Smith and Slobodkin, the authors of the seminal paper on the subject.