Inter-regional variation on leaf surface defenses in native and non-native Centaurea solstitialis plants

SOTES, G. J.; CAVIERES, L. A. ; MONTESINOS, D. ; PEREIRA COUTINHO, A. X. ; PELÁEZ, W. J.; LOPES, S. M. M. ; PINHO E MELO, T.M.V.D.

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 62 p. 208 - 208

lant chemical defenses can be qualitative (toxins) to face generalist herbivores andquantitative (digestibility reducers) to specialists. Trichomes can produce chemicals, butalso acts as a quantitative defense and in water loss. The shifting defense hypothesis (SDH)poses that invasive plants reduce the production of qualitative defenses against specialistherbivores because those are frequently absent in invaded regions, while increasing defensesagainst generalist herbivores. Chemical and physical leaf surface defensive traitscould give information about direct planteherbivore interaction in native and non-nativeregions. We studied leaf surface morphology and epicuticular chemistry of the invasive C.solstitialis in plants from native and non-native regions. Across regions, the main chemicalcomponents were sesquiterpene lactones, similar densities of sessile glandular trichomesand a variable number of large multicellular trichomes. Exotic plants face different sets ofchallenges in the n