Does leaf ontogeny lead to changes in defensive strategies against insect herbivores?

• Published in: Arthropod-plant interactions Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 99 - 107
• Main Authors: de Queiroz, Antônio César Medeiros, da Costa, Fernanda Vieira, de Siqueira Neves, Frederico, Fagundes, Marcílio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-02-2013; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abundance; Ants; Behavioral Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chemical defense; Ecology; Entomology; Extrafloral nectaries; Herbivores; Host plants; Insects; Invertebrates; Leaves; Life Sciences; Ontogeny; Original Paper; Plant Pathology; Plant Sciences; Questions; Tannins; Sclerophylly; Extrafloral nectaries; Leaf development; Physical defense; Chemical defense; Ant–plant interactions; Brazilian Cerrado
• ISSN: 1872-8855; 1872-8847
• DOI: 10.1007/s11829-012-9224-1

Plants use different defense strategies throughout their ontogenetic development. In this study, three questions were proposed: (1) Is there a greater abundance of ants on young leaves, which possess active extrafloral nectaries, than on mature leaves? (2) Do ants exert an indirect defense that is effective against the attack of herbivorous insects? (3) Do mature leaves have a greater concentration of physical and chemical defense than young leaves? These questions were addressed through an ant-exclusion experiment in which two branches of
Copaifera langsdorffii
(
n
 = 25) were marked and monitored throughout the entire foliar expansion and development period. A reduction in the abundance of ants throughout foliar development was observed. The ants exerted an effective defense against herbivores on
C. langsdorffii
: the branches where ants were excluded had a greater number of herbivores. The mature leaves possessed a greater index of leaf sclerophylly than young leaves, but the leaves did not differ in the concentration of tannins. The foliar ontogeny of
C. langsdorffii
promoted an inversion in the defense strategy against herbivores, and despite showing an opportunistic relationship, the interaction between ants and extrafloral nectaries appears to play an important role in structuring the interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plants.