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Effects of genotype, habitat, and seasonal variation on iridoid glycoside content of Plantago lanceolata (Plantaginaceae) and the implications for insect herbivores

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Summary

We investigated the effects of genotype, habitat, and seasonal variation on production of the iridoid glycosides, aucubin and catalpol, in leaves of the common weed Plantago lanceolata. Two genotypes, one each from a lawn and an adjacent abandoned hayfield population, were clonally replicated in the greenhouse, and then planted back into the two habitats. One quarter of the plants from each treatment were harvested on each of four dates, at approximately two-week intervals. Over the course of the growing season, and in both habitats, we found a significant increase in the concentration of both aucubin and catalpol in P. lanceolata leaves. The genotypes differed in their response to environmental variation, both in time and between sites, as indicated by significant genotype x date and genotype x site interactions. Early in the season, habitat (lawn or field) had a greater effect on iridoid glycoside concentration than did plant genotype, but later in the season, plant genotype was more influential in determining the iridoid glycoside concentration. Thus, the relative palatability of Plantago genotypes to specialist and generalist herbivores may vary in time and space.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado, Campus Box 334, 80309, Boulder, CO, USA

    M. Deane Bowers

  2. Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, 48 Quincy Street, 02138, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Sharon K. Collinge

  3. Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Box G-W301, 02912, Providence, RI, USA

    Susan E. Gamble & Johanna Schmitt

Authors
  1. M. Deane Bowers
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  2. Sharon K. Collinge
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  3. Susan E. Gamble
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  4. Johanna Schmitt
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Deane Bowers, M., Collinge, S.K., Gamble, S.E. et al. Effects of genotype, habitat, and seasonal variation on iridoid glycoside content of Plantago lanceolata (Plantaginaceae) and the implications for insect herbivores. Oecologia 91, 201–207 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317784

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317784

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