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Abstract
It was discovered more than 10 years ago that toxic and repelling substances may increase in plant tissue in response to damage by phyllophages. Such rapidly inducible chemical changes may appear a few hours after leaf injury and then disappear in a few weeks or months (Walker-Simmons and Ryan 1977, Baldwin and Schultz 1983, Van Hoven 1974, Wratten et al. 1984). This phenomenon has been investigated in detail on mountain birch,
Betula pubescens tortuosa, in Finland (Haukioja and Niemelä 1977, 1979, Niemelä et al. 1979, Haukioja 1982, Neuvonen and Haukioja 1991). Research there has demonstrated that consumption of leaves from damaged shoots has detrimental effects on the development, fecundity, and sometimes the survival of several species of insects. The same adverse effects were found for insects feeding on damaged willow (Raupp and Demo 1984), larch (Niemelä et al. 1980), and other trees and shrubs. Although these effects may easily be demonstrated in laboratory and field tests, it is not clear what role they play in phyllophage population dynamics (Fowler and Lawton 1985). Are they a real defense against herbivores? If there are damage inducible defenses in plant leaves, it is reasonable to suppose that phyllophagous insects may have evolved mechanisms for coping with or rejecting damaged leaves. For example, laboratory trials have clearly shown that polyphagous lepidopteran larvae prefer to feed on intact birch leaves (Wratten et al. 1984). Arguments for the benefits of rapid inducible resistance (RIR) in plants are not so convincing. They emphasize the increased dispersion of insect injuries within a tree crown and the subsequent increase in mortality of the insects (Edwards and Wratten 1983, Silkstone 1987). However, this effect has been shown to be weak, and in many cases was not found at all (Silkstone 1987). Moreover, some laboratory experiments have shown that phyllophages are not capable of distinguishing damaged leaves and hence of avoiding them (Raupp and Demo 1984, Hartley and Lawton 1987).
Parent Publication
Citation
Bogacheva, I.A. 1991. Repeated damage of leaves by phyllophagous insects: is it influenced by rapid inducible resistance?. In: Baranchikov, Yuri N.; Mattson, William J.; Hain, Fred P.; Payne, Thomas L., eds. Forest Insect Guilds: Patterns of Interaction with Host Trees; 1989 August 13-17; Abakan, Siberia, U.S.S.R. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-153. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station: 113-122.
