Ecological and coevolutionary links between plant defence and plant reproduction

植物防御与植物繁殖之间的生态和共同进化联系

• 批准号: NE/R016372/1
• 负责人: Stuart Campbell
• 金额: $ 83.05万
• 依托单位: University of Sheffield
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FR016372%2F1
• 关键词: Ecological; coevolutionary; links; between; plant

As sessile organisms rooted to the ground, plants can't run away when attacked by herbivores and other parasites. Instead, they defend themselves with an array of defensive chemicals that render their leaves toxic or unpalatable. Plants also can't actively seek each other out to reproduce; instead they recruit bees, birds and butterflies to transfer their pollen, often using flowers scented with attractive chemicals. The extraordinary diversity of flowering plants is arguably most evident in these two seemingly unrelated facets of a plant's life: reproduction, exemplified by the stunning diversity in flower form and function; and defence, exemplified by the remarkable variation in toxic chemistry found in the leaves of most plant species. Because plants use their natural chemicals both to deter herbivores and attract pollinators, they must strike a balance between these functions, by deploying chemical compounds in different tissues at the appropriate time. Understanding this balance is important for understanding and protecting biodiversity, and for the management of crop species, most of which are attacked by enemies and require pollinators.Plant defence and reproduction have been considered as separate research fields, with herbivores getting most of the credit for the evolutionary diversity of leaf defences and pollinators getting the credit for the colours and odours of flowers. Surprisingly little research has examined the links between defence and reproduction in plants, at either fundamental or applied levels, despite an enormous body of work on plant resistance traits, and despite growing concern over widespread declines in the abundance and diversity of both managed and wild pollinators, particularly bees. However, my recent research demonstrates that plant defence and reproduction may be intrinsically linked: Specific plant defence responses cause flowers to be less effectively pollinated, and specific modes of reproduction shape the types of defences that are deployed. These results suggest that, contrary to conventional wisdom, herbivores might actually impose natural selection on flower traits, while pollinators (and plant reproduction in general) might impose natural selection on leaf defences.The goal of this research is to test these ideas, with the goal of unifying these two research fields. The project will tackle this problem by asking four complementary questions: First, how does herbivory impact pollination, and how does it thereby influence the evolution and function of flowers? Second, what is the relative importance of herbivores and pollinators for natural selection on leaf and flower traits? Third, what physiological mechanisms link leaves and flowers, and how or why do those vary among plant species? Fourth, do different modes of plant reproduction influence the evolution of herbivores? The results are predicted to reveal deep connections between two of the most prevalent species interactions in terrestrial ecosystems (herbivory and pollination), and thereby transform our understanding of plant defensive and reproductive diversity.

作为扎根于地面的固着生物，植物在受到食草动物和其他寄生虫的攻击时无法逃跑。相反，它们用一系列防御性化学物质来保护自己，使它们的叶子有毒或难吃。植物也不能主动寻找彼此繁殖;相反，它们会招募蜜蜂、鸟类和蝴蝶来传递花粉，通常使用带有诱人化学物质气味的花朵。开花植物的非凡多样性可以说在植物生命的这两个看似无关的方面最为明显：繁殖，以花的形式和功能的惊人多样性为例;防御，以大多数植物物种的叶子中发现的有毒化学物质的显着变化为例。由于植物使用其天然化学物质来阻止食草动物和吸引授粉者，因此它们必须通过在适当的时间在不同的组织中部署化学化合物来在这些功能之间取得平衡。了解这种平衡对于理解和保护生物多样性以及管理作物物种都很重要，因为大多数作物都受到敌人的攻击，需要传粉者。植物防御和繁殖被认为是独立的研究领域，食草动物获得了叶防御进化多样性的大部分功劳，传粉者获得了花朵颜色和气味的功劳。令人惊讶的是，很少有研究在基础或应用层面上研究植物防御和繁殖之间的联系，尽管在植物抗性性状方面进行了大量的工作，尽管人们越来越关注管理和野生传粉者（特别是蜜蜂）的丰度和多样性的普遍下降。然而，我最近的研究表明，植物防御和繁殖可能是内在联系的：特定的植物防御反应导致花朵授粉效率降低，特定的繁殖模式塑造了所部署的防御类型。这些结果表明，与传统观点相反，食草动物实际上可能会对花的性状施加自然选择，而传粉者（以及植物繁殖）可能会对叶防御施加自然选择。本研究的目标是测试这些想法，目标是统一这两个研究领域。该项目将通过提出四个互补的问题来解决这个问题：首先，草食动物如何影响授粉，以及它如何影响花的进化和功能？第二，在叶和花性状的自然选择中，食草动物和传粉者的相对重要性是什么？第三，是什么生理机制将叶和花联系在一起，这些机制在不同的植物物种中是如何或为什么会有差异的？第四，不同的植物繁殖方式是否影响了食草动物的进化？预测结果将揭示陆地生态系统中两种最普遍的物种相互作用（食草动物和授粉）之间的深层联系，从而改变我们对植物防御和生殖多样性的理解。

项目成果

Natural Volatile Organic Compounds (NVOCs) Are Greater and More Diverse in UK Forests Compared with a Public Garden

与公共花园相比，英国森林中的天然挥发性有机化合物 (NVOC) 更多且更多样化

• DOI: 10.3390/f14010092
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Forests
• 影响因子: 2.9
• 作者: Walker H

Negative effects of urbanisation on diurnal and nocturnal pollen-transport networks.

城市化对昼夜花粉传输网络的负面影响。

• DOI: 10.1111/ele.14261
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Ecology letters
• 影响因子: 8.8
• 作者: Ellis EE