Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

A herbivore tag-and-trace system reveals contact- and density-dependent repellence of a root toxin

Bont, Zoe; Arce, Carla; Huber, Meret; Huang, Wei; Mestrot, Adrien; Sturrock, Craig; Erb, Matthais

A herbivore tag-and-trace system reveals contact- and density-dependent repellence of a root toxin Thumbnail


Authors

Zoe Bont

Carla Arce

Meret Huber

Wei Huang

Adrien Mestrot

Matthais Erb



Abstract

Foraging behavior of root feeding organisms strongly affects plant-environment-interactions and ecosystem processes. However, the impact of plant chemistry on root herbivore movement in the soil is poorly understood. Here, we apply a simple technique to trace the movement of soil-dwelling insects in their habitats without disturbing or restricting their interactions with host plants. We tagged the root feeding larvae of Melolontha melolontha with a copper ring and repeatedly located their position in relation to their preferred host plant, Taraxacum officinale, using a commercial metal detector. This method was validated and used to study the influence of the sesquiterpene lactone taraxinic acid β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (TA-G) on the foraging of M. melolontha. TA-G is stored in the latex of T. officinale and protects the roots from herbivory. Using behavioral arenas with TA-G deficient and control plants, we tested the impact of physical root access and plant distance on the effect of TA-G on M. melolontha. The larvae preferred TA-G deficient plants to control plants, but only when physical root contact was possible and the plants were separated by 5 cm. Melolontha melolontha showed no preference for TA-G deficient plants when the plants were grown 15 cm apart, which may indicate a trade-off between the cost of movement and the benefit of consuming less toxic food. We demonstrate that M. melolontha integrates host plant quality and distance into its foraging patterns and suggest that plant chemistry affects root herbivore behavior in a plant-density dependent manner. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Citation

Bont, Z., Arce, C., Huber, M., Huang, W., Mestrot, A., Sturrock, C., & Erb, M. (2017). A herbivore tag-and-trace system reveals contact- and density-dependent repellence of a root toxin. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 43(3), 295-306. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-017-0830-3

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 22, 2017
Online Publication Date Mar 16, 2017
Publication Date Mar 16, 2017
Deposit Date Aug 15, 2017
Publicly Available Date Aug 15, 2017
Journal Journal of Chemical Ecology
Print ISSN 0098-0331
Electronic ISSN 1573-1561
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 43
Issue 3
Pages 295-306
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-017-0830-3
Keywords Foraging, Imaging, Melolontha melolontha, Root herbivore, Tag-and-trace, Taraxacum officinale
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/850964
Publisher URL https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10886-017-0830-3
Related Public URLs http://boris.unibe.ch/98166/
Additional Information The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10886-017-0830-3
Contract Date Aug 15, 2017

Files





You might also like



Downloadable Citations