Heritable variation in the foliar secondary metabolite sideroxylonal in Eucalyptus confers cross-resistance to herbivores

Rose L. Andrew*, Ian R. Wallis, Chris E. Harwood, Michael Henson, William J. Foley

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    67 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Plants encounter a broad range of natural enemies and defend themselves in diverse ways. The cost of defense can be reduced if a plant secondary metabolite confers resistance to multiple herbivores. However, there are few examples of positively correlated defenses in plants against herbivores of different types. We present evidence that a genetically variable chemical trait that acts as a strong antifeedant to mammalian herbivores of Eucalyptus also deters insect herbivores, suggesting a possible mechanism for cross-resistance. We provide field confirmation that sideroxylonal, an important antifeedant for mammalian herbivores, also determines patterns of damage by Christmas beetles, a specialist insect herbivore of Eucalyptus. In a genetic progeny trial of Eucalyptus tricarpa, we found significant heritabilities of sideroxylonal concentration (0.60), overall insect damage (0.34), and growth traits (0.30-0.53). Population of origin also had a strong effect on each trait. Negative phenotypic correlations were observed between sideroxylonal and damage, and between damage and growth. No relationship was observed between sideroxylonal concentration and any growth trait. Our results suggest that potential for evolution by natural selection of sideroxylonal concentrations is not strongly constrained by growth costs and that both growth and defense traits can be successfully incorporated into breeding programs for plantation trees.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)891-901
    Number of pages11
    JournalOecologia
    Volume153
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2007

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