Direct and Indirect Effects of Foliar Herbivory on Floral Traits, Insect Pollination, and Male and Female Plant Fitness

9407362施特劳斯/康纳这项工作的主要目标是研究食草动物的破坏如何同时影响雄株适合度(繁殖的种子数量)和雌株适合度(产生的种子数量)。这些实验的结果将有助于反向传播的几个领域，并将为研究植物、草食动物和传粉者之间的关系提供一个新的角度。一个争议是，就植物适合性而言，一些植物似乎能够完全补偿食草性。传统上，适合度是通过植物的种子生产来估计的，但这里采取的方法将检验植物的总适合度。初步数据表明，植物可能会将分配从雄性适应(花粉、花蜜和花瓣生产)转移到雌性适应(种子生产)。由于这些变化，植物可能不会真正补偿叶片的损害，因为即使种子总数保持不变，受损植物产生的种子数量可能会减少。这一建议还通过将授粉过程与食草性过程联系起来，为当前的理论做出了贡献。例如，如果受损的植物因为对传粉者吸引力较小而适合度较低，那么自然选择可能会影响植物对损害的反应。特别是，传粉者的需要，无论是通过奖励还是通过必要的线索，可能会影响植物如何分配资源以应对损害。有效的传粉者种类和它们的需要可能决定受损植物是否产生更少的同等质量的花，或者它们是否产生与未受损植物一样多的花，但一些质量较低的植物(即，较小，奖励较少)。这些都是令人振奋的新领域，值得进一步研究。这项工作的一个目标是确定植物中的雄性和雌性在多大程度上受到叶片食草性的影响。由于叶片受损，许多农作物遭受减产。人们普遍认为，草本作物产量下降是植物可利用资源减少的结果(通过叶面积的损失)，而不是授粉减少的结果(尽管果园种植者多年来一直知道良好授粉的重要性)。这项工作的结果可能会更清楚地阐明食草动物降低产量的机制。这项研究可能表明，对于给定的危害水平，通过增加传粉者访问而不是减少草食动物损失的叶面积可以更好地改善作物的数量或质量。在植物上喷洒授粉引诱剂(如“蜂香”之类的产品)可能比喷洒杀虫剂更能提高产量，特别是因为杀虫剂对有益的昆虫是有毒的。这项研究可能会提出替代或补充杀虫剂的建议。

9407362 Strauss/Conner The main goal of this work is to examine how damage by herbivores affects both male plant fitness (number of seeds sired) and female fitness (number of seeds produced) simultaneously. Results from these experiments will contribute to several areas of cmntroversy, and will provide a new angle to examining the relationships between plants, herbivores and pollinators. One controversy is how some plants seem to be able to compensate completely for herbivory in terms of plant fitness. Fitness has classically been estimated through seed production in plants, but the approach taken here will examine total plant fitness. Preliminary data suggest that plants may shift allocation from aspects of male fitness (pollen, nectar and petal production) to female fitness (seed production). Because of these shifts, plants may not truly compensate for leaf damage, since the number of seeds sired by damaged plants may be reduced, even if total seed number remains the same. This proposal also contributes to current theory by linking the processes involved with pollination to those with herbivory. For example, if damaged plants have lower fitness because they are less attractive to pollinators, then natural selection may act on plant response to damage. In particular, the needs of pollinators, either through rewards or through required cues, may shape how plants allocate resources for damage. The kinds of effective pollinator species and their needs may determine whether damaged plants produce fewer flowers of equal quality, or whether they produce as many flowers as undamaged plants, but some of lower quality (i.e., smaller, with fewer rewards). These are exciting new areas that merit further investigation. One goal of this work is to determine the degree to which male versus female fitness in plants is affected by herbivory to leaves. Many crop plants suffer reduced yield as a result of leaf damage. It is generally assumed that reduced yie ld in herbaceous crops is a result of fewer resources available to plants (through loss of leaf area) rather than the result of diminished pollination (although orchard growers have known for years of the importance of good pollination). results from this work may elucidate more clearly the mechanisms through which herbivory reduces yield. This research may indicate that for a given level of damage, crop quantity or quality could be better improved by increasing pollinator visitation rather than by reducing leaf area lost to herbivores. Spraying plants with pollinator attractants (e.g., products like "Bee Scent") may improve yield more than by spraying with pesticides, especially since pesticides can be toxic to beneficial insects. This research may suggest an alternative or supplement to pesticides.