Speaker
Description
Intraspecific phytochemical diversity (‘chemodiversity’) affects plant-environment interactions. However, the ecological mechanisms maintaining chemodiversity remain largely unknown. Here, the effects of steroidal glycoside (SG) chemodiversity and chemotype on plant performance, seed progeny, herbivory and buzz-pollination were assessed. Plot-level SG chemodiversity was manipulated using a replacement series (four plants/plot) of two Solanum dulcamara chemotypes producing saturated (S) and unsaturated (U) SGs, respectively, creating homogeneous (4S and 4U), heterogeneous (3S+1U and 3U+1S) and balanced (2S+2U) plots. Berry counts were higher in chemo-diverse balanced plots (2S+2U). Herbivory was interactively affected by herbivory-type, chemotype and chemodiversity. U-chemotype plants had longer stem lengths, lesser herbivory by leaf-chewers, more and faster ripening berries, less progeny albeit with higher germination rates, and received more buzz-pollinations from Bombus lapidarius. Our results indicate that SG chemodiversity enhances plant performance and reproduction, suggesting that frequency-dependent selection pressures play a pivotal role in the maintenance of genetic polymorphisms leading to SG chemotypes.
| Status Group | Doctoral Researcher |
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