Description du projet
Zoom sur l’adaptation des plantes aux attaques d’herbivores
Les insectes herbivores constituent une menace pour les plantes individuelles, car leurs attaques sont imprévisibles. Les végétaux sont dotés d’une plasticité phénotypique dans leurs mécanismes de défense et leur aptitude à réagir. Cependant, le phénotype végétal induit est susceptible d’attirer davantage d’herbivores, de modifier la composition globale de la communauté d’attaquants et de limiter les capacités physiologiques de réaction des plantes. Il est nécessaire d’étudier la nature adaptative de la plasticité des végétaux en relation avec la prévisibilité des attaques d’herbivores. Le projet MULTIATTACK, financé par l’UE, intégrera l’écologie des communautés à la modélisation de l’inférence des réseaux de communautés d’insectes afin de déterminer la prévisibilité des communautés d’attaquants dynamiques liées aux différentes espèces de Brassicaceae. En outre, l’équipe entend étudier la cohérence des réponses des insectes herbivores aux phénotypes induits de différentes plantes du genre Brassicaceae et comprendre les adaptations physiologiques aux attaques (imprévisibles) de plusieurs herbivores.
Objectif
Individual plants are exposed to many stresses with insect herbivores being a prominent one. The occurrence of insect herbivores may be unpredictable in terms of when, by which species, and in which order the attack will take place. To deal with unpredictability of attack, plants are phenotypically plastic in their defence. They respond to attackers with the induction of specific defences and saving costs of defence in their absence. However, the induced plant phenotype may attract additional herbivores, alter the entire community composition of attackers and limit physiological capabilities of plant responses to subsequent attackers. An optimal response to one attacker should thus anticipate these consequences of induced responses. To understand the adaptive nature of plant plasticity to herbivore attack, it is essential to assess fitness consequences of an induced response when plants are exposed to multi-herbivory by their entire insect community. This requires a novel approach of comparing plant species adaptations in defence plasticity to the level of predictability in the dynamics of their insect community, such as order of herbivore arrival. To do so, this research proposal has three objectives: 1) Identifying the predictability of dynamic attacker communities of Brassicaceae species, 2) Understanding physiological adaptations to (un)predictable multi-herbivore attack, and 3) Identifying consistency in responses of insect herbivores to induced phenotypes of different Brassicaceae. By integrating community ecology with network inference modelling of insect communities, the nature of predictability of insect communities of nine annual Brassicaceae plant species will be identified and linked to species-specific physiological adaptations to multi-herbivory. This multidisciplinary community approach will provide novel insights into the evolution of plant phenotypic plasticity in defence, which is a central paradigm in the field of plant-insect interactions.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitution d’accueil
6708 PB Wageningen
Pays-Bas