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Review
. 2012 Dec;160(4):1677-85.
doi: 10.1104/pp.112.204750. Epub 2012 Sep 12.

Climate change: resetting plant-insect interactions

Evan H DeLucia  1 , Paul D Nabity, Jorge A Zavala, May R Berenbaum
Affiliations
Review

Climate change: resetting plant-insect interactions

Evan H DeLucia et al. Plant Physiol. 2012 Dec.
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Elevated atmospheric CO2 affects plant-insect interactions through its direct effects on plant metabolism and elevated temperature through its direct effect on plant and insect metabolism. Some insects respond directly to elevated CO2 during oviposition, when foraging for live or dead plant material belowground, or when foraging for nectar, for example (Goyret et al., 2008). At current and projected future levels of atmospheric CO2, the primary effect of elevated CO2 on the suitability of plant tissues as food is mediated largely through changes in plant chemistry and morphology.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
The consequences of insect damage depend on its timing relative to plant development. In soybean, the sensitivity of seed yield to leaf area removal by herbivory varies strongly among developmental stages (V, vegetative; R1, beginning bloom; R2, full bloom; R3, beginning pod; R4, full pod; R5, beginning seed; from National Crop Insurance Service publication 6302), where a 60% reduction in leaf area during R5 results in greater than 20% yield reduction, but no detectable yield reduction if the same leaf area removal occurs during vegetative growth. The dates (right) for different developmental stages are for soybean in the SoyFACE experiment (Castro et al., 2009). Vertical bars represent the time when Japanese beetles and soybean aphids are abundant (97% of the total annual population), and the black bars represent times of peak abundance (beetles in central Illinois: 26% of total population; Van Timmerman et al., 2000; aphids in southern Wisconsin: approximately 60% of total population; http://www.plantpath.wisc.edu/soyhealth/aglycine.htm). Shifting the timing of insect attack relative to plant development will alter its effect on seed yield.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Japanese beetles feeding and mating on soybean grown under elevated CO2. Growth under elevated CO2 increases leaf carbohydrates and reduces the concentration of defensive CystPI activity, which together greatly increase the suitability of foliage for beetles. Leaf damage and the number of Japanese beetles, as well as numbers of other folivorous insects, are greater in plots exposed to elevated compared with ambient CO2 (Hamilton et al., 2005; Dermody et al., 2008). Photo credit: B. O’Neill.
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