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

植物对食草动物的反应多种多样，其中许多被认为具有巨大的生理和生态代价。生理成本是从生长到防御的资源重新分配造成的，而生态成本是由于花形态的变化而降低了授粉成功率。这个项目的目标是量化这两种健身成本。研究人员提出了一系列实验室和田间操作实验，以测量植物形态、代谢和繁殖对叶片食草性疾病的反应。收集到的数据将检验两个主要假设：第一，草食动物引起的变化降低了传粉者获得“奖励”的质量；第二，植物通过增加近亲交配的程度和减少花粉竞争来补偿传粉者吸引力的减少。这项研究的重点是草食动物诱导的花的形态和代谢变化，以及这些变化对两个野生番茄物种授粉的影响，这两个物种是兼性异交种Solanum Chmielewski和自交种S.neorickii，这两个物种都产于秘鲁安第斯山脉。这项综合研究将评估草食动物诱导的植物反应对节肢动物群落组成和植物适应性的作用和影响，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植物防御在农业中的可持续利用。该项目是茄科基因组计划下一个更大的综合研究网络(ECO-SOL)的一部分，目的是缩小围绕驯化番茄野生近缘的自然历史和生态的知识差距。研究人员的多学科方法将为博士后研究员、研究生和本科生以及中学生提供扎实的培训和教育。

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.