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Heritable variation in the foliar secondary metabolite sideroxylonal in Eucalyptus confers cross-resistance to herbivores

  • Plant Animal Interactions
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Abstract

Plants encounter a broad range of natural enemies and defend themselves in diverse ways. The cost of defense can be reduced if a plant secondary metabolite confers resistance to multiple herbivores. However, there are few examples of positively correlated defenses in plants against herbivores of different types. We present evidence that a genetically variable chemical trait that acts as a strong antifeedant to mammalian herbivores of Eucalyptus also deters insect herbivores, suggesting a possible mechanism for cross-resistance. We provide field confirmation that sideroxylonal, an important antifeedant for mammalian herbivores, also determines patterns of damage by Christmas beetles, a specialist insect herbivore of Eucalyptus. In a genetic progeny trial of Eucalyptus tricarpa, we found significant heritabilities of sideroxylonal concentration (0.60), overall insect damage (0.34), and growth traits (0.30–0.53). Population of origin also had a strong effect on each trait. Negative phenotypic correlations were observed between sideroxylonal and damage, and between damage and growth. No relationship was observed between sideroxylonal concentration and any growth trait. Our results suggest that potential for evolution by natural selection of sideroxylonal concentrations is not strongly constrained by growth costs and that both growth and defense traits can be successfully incorporated into breeding programs for plantation trees.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Emlyn Williams for statistical advice, and Nadine Scholtz and Junko Kondo for assistance in field and laboratory work. We are grateful to Jim and Jane Rowe and later Sharon and Lockie Altmeier for access to their property and to ALRTIG for providing background information on the trial. We also thank Ian Johnson and Hans Porada of Forests NSW for their support and assistance. We thank Brian Baltunis and anonymous reviewers for their comments on the manuscript. The work was funded by grants from the Australian Research Council and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) to W.J.F. and by a scholarship from RIRDC and the Australian National University to R.L.A. This study complies with the laws of the country in which it was conducted, Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Botany and Zoology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia

    Rose L. Andrew, Ian R. Wallis & William J. Foley

  2. Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry, College Road, Sandy Bay, TAS, 7005, Australia

    Chris E. Harwood

  3. Forests NSW, Northern Research Centre, 357 Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour Jetty, NSW, 2450, Australia

    Michael Henson

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  1. Rose L. Andrew
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  2. Ian R. Wallis
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  5. William J. Foley
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Correspondence to Rose L. Andrew.

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Communicated by Julia Koricheva.

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Andrew, R.L., Wallis, I.R., Harwood, C.E. et al. Heritable variation in the foliar secondary metabolite sideroxylonal in Eucalyptus confers cross-resistance to herbivores. Oecologia 153, 891–901 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0784-1

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