Ecological Consequences of Herbivore-Induced Changes in Flower Morphology and Secondary Metabolism of Native Tomato Species, Solanum spp.

植物对食草动物产生各种反应，其中许多被认为具有显着的生理和生态成本。生理成本是由于资源从生长到防御的重新分配，而生态成本是由于花形态的变化降低了授粉成功率。这个项目的目标是量化这两个健身成本。研究人员提出了一系列的操作实验室和田间实验与本地茄属物种，以测量植物形态，代谢和繁殖叶草食动物的反应。收集的数据将测试两个主要的假设：第一，食草动物引起的变化降低了授粉者的“奖励”的质量，第二，植物通过增加近亲繁殖的程度和减少花粉竞争来补偿授粉者吸引力的降低。研究的重点是草食动物引起的花的形态和代谢变化，以及这些变化对两种野生番茄授粉的后果，即兼性异交种Solanum chmielewski和自交种S。都是秘鲁安第斯山脉的原生植物。这项综合性研究将评估的作用和影响，草食动物引起的植物反应的节肢动物群落和植物的健身组成，并确定诱导植物反应的成本。它将评估表型可塑性在植物-昆虫共同进化中的作用，以及在补偿主要生理和生态代价方面的作用，从而扩大我们对表型可塑性的生态重要性的理解。收集的数据将大大有助于农业中植物防御的可持续利用。该项目是茄科基因组项目下更大的综合研究网络（ECO-SOL）的一部分，旨在缩小驯化番茄野生亲缘植物的自然历史和生态学方面的知识差距。研究者的多学科方法将为博士后研究人员，研究生和本科生以及中学生提供坚实的培训和教育。

Plants mount a variety of responses to herbivory, and many of these are thought to have significant physiological and ecological costs. Physiological costs result from a reallocation of resources from growth to defense, while ecological costs result from changes in flower morphology that lower pollination success. The goal of this project is to quantify these two fitness costs. The investigator proposes a series of manipulative laboratory and field experiments with native Solanum species to measure plant morphological, metabolic and reproductive responses to leaf herbivory. The data collected will test two main hypotheses: first, that herbivore-induced changes reduce the quality of the 'reward' to pollinators and second, that plants compensate for reduced pollinator attraction by increasing the extent of inbreeding and reducing pollen competition. The research focuses on herbivore-induced morphological and metabolic changes in flowers and the consequences of those changes for the pollination of two wild tomato species, the facultative outcrosser Solanum chmielewski and the selfer S. neorickii, both native to the Peruvian Andes. This integrative research will evaluate the role and impact of herbivore-induced plant responses on the composition of arthropod communities and plant fitness and identify costs of induced plant responses. It will evaluate the role of phenotypic plasticity in plant-insect coevolution and in compensating for major physiological and ecological costs, thereby expanding our understanding of the ecological importance of phenotypic plasticity. The data collected will contribute substantially to the sustainable utilization of plant defenses in agriculture. The project is part of a larger integrative research network (ECO-SOL) under the umbrella of the Solanaceae Genome Project to close the knowledge gap around the natural history and ecology of the wild relatives of domesticated tomato. The investigator's multidisciplinary approach will provide solid training and education for a postdoctoral researcher, graduate and undergraduate students, and middle school students.