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Review article2010Peer reviewed

Evolution of Plant Defenses in Nonindigenous Environments

Orians, Colin M.; Ward, David

Abstract

Exotic plants provide a unique opportunity to explore the evolution of defense allocation in plants. Many studies have focused on whether enemy release leads to a change in defense allocation. Little research has focused on induced defenses and on how resource availability in the nonindigenous range might cause evolutionary shifts in defense trait allocation. We examine (a) the major evolutionary hypotheses predicting defense expression in plants, (b) the hypotheses explaining defense evolution of exotic species, and (c) the importance of geographic variation in ecological interactions to defense evolution (geographic mosaics). In addition, we review the strengths and weaknesses of experimental approaches, present case studies, and suggest areas that deserve further attention.

Keywords

exotic plants; invasions; enemy release; evolution of increased competitive ability; generalist and specialist herbivores; resource availability

Published in

Annual Review of Entomology
2010, Volume: 55, pages: 439-459 ISBN: 978-0-8243-0155-2Publisher: ANNUAL REVIEWS

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Evolutionary Biology
    Botany

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-112408-085333

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/48658