Water availability and plant–herbivore interactions
Journal
Journal of Experimental Botany
Journal Volume
74
Journal Issue
9
Start Page
2811
End Page
2828
ISSN
0022-0957
1460-2431
Date Issued
2022-12-07
Author(s)
Editor(s)
David Braun
Abstract
Water is essential to plant growth and drives plant evolution and interactions with other organisms such as herbivores. However, water availability fluctuates, and these fluctuations are intensified by climate change. How plant water availability influences plant-herbivore interactions in the future is an important question in basic and applied ecology. Here we summarize and synthesize the recent discoveries on the impact of water availability on plant antiherbivore defense ecology and the underlying physiological processes. Water deficit tends to enhance plant resistance and escape traits (i.e. early phenology) against herbivory but negatively affects other defense strategies, including indirect defense and tolerance. However, exceptions are sometimes observed in specific plant-herbivore species pairs. We discuss the effect of water availability on species interactions associated with plants and herbivores from individual to community levels and how these interactions drive plant evolution. Although water stress and many other abiotic stresses are predicted to increase in intensity and frequency due to climate change, we identify a significant lack of study on the interactive impact of additional abiotic stressors on water-plant-herbivore interactions. This review summarizes critical knowledge gaps and informs possible future research directions in water-plant-herbivore interactions.
Subjects
Abiotic stress
climate change
drought
insect herbivore
pest
plant defense
plant volatile
resource availability
water deficit
water stress
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Type
journal article