Premium
Ontogenetic switches from plant resistance to tolerance: minimizing costs with age?
Author(s) -
Boege Karina,
Dirzo Rodolfo,
Siemens David,
Brown Paul
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.01012.x
Subject(s) - ontogeny , biology , resistance (ecology) , herbivore , ecology , juvenile , resource (disambiguation) , vulnerability (computing) , computer science , genetics , computer network , computer security
Changes in herbivory and resource availability during a plant's development should promote ontogenetic shifts in resistance and tolerance, if the costs and benefits of these basic strategies also change as plants develop. We proposed and tested a general model to detect the expression of ontogenetic tradeoffs for these two alternative anti‐herbivory strategies in Raphanus sativus . We found that ontogenetic trajectories occur in both resistance and tolerance but in opposite directions. The juvenile stage was more resistant but less tolerant than the reproductive stage. The ontogenetic switch from resistance to tolerance was consistent with the greater vulnerability of young plants to leaf damage and with the costs of resistance and tolerance found at each stage. We posit that the ontogenetic perspective presented here will be helpful in resolving the current debate on the existence and detection of a general resistance–tolerance tradeoff.