Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. Capitata) fails to show wound-induced defence against a specialist and a generalist herbivore?

  • Plant Animal Interactions
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper presents tests of a model of wound-induced defence in herbaceous plants. Many studies have reported both chemical changes in leaves and changes in the behaviour and/or physiology of herbivores as a result of wounding leaves. These studies and others have led to the development of various models to explain wound-induced effects both in terms of plant response and herbivore behaviour. The model under test was proposed by Edwards and Wratten (1987) and predicts that wounding a plant will cause herbivores (1) to take more meals of a smaller size and/or consume less foliage overall (2) grow more slowly and (3) be more mobile. These predictions were tested in cabbage Brassica oleracea L. var. Capitata cv. Pixie with Pieris brassicae L. (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) as a herbivore specialising on cabbage, and Spodoptera littoralis Boisd. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) as a generalist herbivore. Both insects showed some reduction in consumption of leaves from upper parts of the plant, but no change in meal size. There were no effects on the growth or mobility of either species as a result of wounding foliage. These results are discussed in relation to the predictions of the model.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baldwin IT (1990) Herbivory simulations in ecological research. Trends Ecol Evol 5:91–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin IT, Schmelz EA (1994) Constraints on an induced defence: the role of leaf area. Oecologia 97:424–430

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbosa P (1988) Natural enemies and herbivore-plant interactions: Influence of plant allelochemicals and host specificity. In: Barbosa P, Letourneau DK (eds) Novel aspects of insectplant interactions. Wiley, New York, pp 201–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker AM (1992) Wound-induced chemical changes in plants and their effects on the behaviour of insect herbivores. Ph.D. thesis, University of Southampton

  • Barker AM, Wratten SD, Edwards PJ (1995) Wound-induced changes in tomato leaves and their effects on feeding patterns of larval Lepidoptera. Oecologia 101:251–257

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergelson JM, Lawton JH (1988) Does foliage damage influence predation on the insect herbivores of birch? Ecology 69:434–445

    Google Scholar 

  • Birch ANE, Griffiths DW and Macfarlane Smith WH (1990) Changes in forage and oilseed rape (Brassica napus) root glucosinolates in response to attack by turnip root fly (Delia floralis). J Sci Food Agric 51:321–335

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaakmeyer A, Geervliet JBF, Van Loon JJA, Posthumus MA, Van Beek TA, Groot Ae de (1994) Comparative headspace analysis of cabbage plants damaged by two species of Pieris caterpillars: consequences for in-flight host location by Cotesia parasitoids. Entomol Exp Appl 73:175–182

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodnaryk RP (1992) Effects of wounding in cotyledons of oilseed rape and mustard. Phytochemistry 31:2671–2677

    Google Scholar 

  • Broadway RM, Duffey SS, Pearce G, Ryan CA (1986) Plant proteinase inhibitors: a defence against herbivorous insects? Entomol Exp Appl 41:33–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter DJ, Holloway JD (1987) Immature stages. In: Betts CR (ed) CIE guides to insects of importance to man. 1. Lepidoptera. CAB International, Oxford, pp 189–227

    Google Scholar 

  • Croxford AC, Edwards PJ, Wratten SD (1989) Temporal and spatial variation in palatability of soybean and cotton leaves following wounding. Oecologia 79:520–525

    Google Scholar 

  • David WAL, Gardiner BOC (1952) Laboratory breeding of Pieris brassicae L. and Apanteles glomeratus L. Proc R Entomol Soc Lond A 27:54–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards PJ, Wratten SD (1987) Ecological significance of wound induced changes in plant chemistry. In: Labeyrie V, Farbes G, Lachaise D (eds.) Insects-plants (Proceedings of 6th International Symposium on Insect-Plant Relationships, Pau 1986) Junk, Dordrecht, pp 213–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards PJ, Wratten SD, Cox H (1985) Wound-induced changes in the acceptability of tomato to larvae of Spodoptera littoralis: a laboratory bioassay. Ecol Entomol 10:155–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards PJ, Wratten SD, Greenwood SD (1986) Palatability of British trees to insects — constitutive and induced defences. Oecologia 69:316–319

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards P, Wratten SD, Gibberd RM (1991) The impact of inducible phytochemicals on food selection by insect herbivores and its consequences for the distribution of grazing damage. In: Tallamy DW, Raupp MJ (eds) Phytochemical induction by herbivores. Wiley, New York, pp 202–222

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards P, Wratten SD, Parker EA (1992) The ecological significance of rapid wound induced changes in plants: insect grazing and plant competition. Oecologia 91:266–272

    Google Scholar 

  • Feltwell J (1982) The biology, biochemistry and physiology of Pieris brassicae (Linnaeus). (Series Entomologica 18). Junk, The Hague

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowler SV, Lawton JH (1985) Rapidly induced defences and talking trees: the devil's advocate position. Am Nat 126:181–195

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowler SV, Macgarvin M (1986) The effects of leaf damage on the performance of insect herbivores on birch, Betula pubescens. J Anim Ecol 55:565–573

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibberd R (1987) Wound-induced plant responses and their consequences for insect grazing. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Southampton

  • Gibberd R, Edwards PJ, Wratten SD (1988) Wound induced changes in the acceptability of tree foliage to Lepidoptera: within-leaf effects. Oikos 51:43–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Green TR, Ryan CA (1972) Wound-induced proteinase inhibitor in tomato leaves: a possible defence mechanism against insects. Science 175:776–777

    Google Scholar 

  • Green TR, Ryan CA (1973) Wound-induced proteinase inhibitor in tomato leaves. Plant Physiol 51:19–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartley SE (1988) The inhibition of phenolic biosynthesis in damaged and undamaged birch foliage and its effect on insect herbivores. Oecologia 76:65–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartley SE, Lawton JH (1987) Effects of different types of damage on the chemistry of birch foliage, and the responses of birch-feeding insects. Oecologia 74:432–437

    Google Scholar 

  • Haukioja E (1982) Inducible defences of white birch to a geometrid defoliator, Epirrita autumna. In: Visser JH, Minks AK (eds) Proceedings of the 5th international symposium of insect-plant interactions. Centre of Agricultural Publication and Documentation, Waginengen, Netherlands, pp 199–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Haukioja E, Niemala P (1977) Retarded growth of a geometrid larvae after mechanical damage to leaves of its host tree. Ann Zool Fenn 14:48–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Hulbert SH (1984) Pseudoreplication and the design of ecological field experiments. Ecol Monogr 54:187–211

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter MD, Schultz JC (1995) Fertilisation mitigates chemical induction and herbivore responses with damaged oak trees. Ecology 76:1226–1232

    Google Scholar 

  • Karban R, Myers JH (1989) Induced plant responses to herbivory. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 20:331–348

    Google Scholar 

  • Kogan M (1986) Bioassays for measuring quality of insect food. In: Miller TR, Miller TA (eds) Insect-plant interactions. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 155–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Koritsas VM, Lewis JA, Fenwick GR (1991) Glucosinolate responses of oilseed rape, mustard and kale to mechanical wounding and infestation by cabbage stem beetle (Pyslliodes chrysocephala). Ann Appl Biol 118:209–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Laing JE, Levin DB (1982) A review of the biology and a bibliography of Apanteles glomeratus L. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Biocontrol News Info 3:7–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Louda S, Collinge SK (1992) Plant resistance to insect herbivores: A field test of the environmental stress hypothesis. Ecology 73:153–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin MA, Capuccino N, Ducharme D (1994) Performance of Symydobius americanus (Homoptera: Aphididae) on paper birch grazed by caterpillars. Ecol Entomol 19:6–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Mead R (1988) The design of experiments. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson CE, Walke-Simmons M, Makus D, Zuroske G, Graham J, Ryan CA (1983) Regulation of synthesis and accumulation of proteinase inhibitors in leaves of wounded tomato plants. In: Hedin PA (ed) Host plant resistance (symposium 208). American Chemical Society, Washington, pp 103–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Palaniswamy P, Lamb RJ (1993) Wound-induced antixenotic resistance to flea beetles, Phyllotetra cruciferae (Goeze) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in crucifers. Can Entomol 125:903–912

    Google Scholar 

  • Raubenheimer D, Simpson SJ (1992) Analysis of covariance: an alternative to nutritional indices. Entomol Exp Appl 62:221–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Raupp MJ, Sadoff CS (1991) Responses of leaf beetles to injury related changes in their salicaceous hosts. In: Tallamy DW, Raupp MJ (eds) Phytochemical induction by herbivores. Wiley, New York, pp 183–221

    Google Scholar 

  • Seldal T, Dybwad E, Andersen KJ, Hogstedt G (1994) Wound-induced proteinase inhibitors in grey alder (Alnus incana): a defence mechanism against attacking insects. Oikos 71:239–245

    Google Scholar 

  • Silkstone BE (1987) The consequences of leaf damage for subsequent insect grazing on birch (Betula spp). Oecologia 74:149–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Slansky F, Feeny P (1977) Stabilisation of the rate of nitrogen accumulation by larvae of the cabbage butterfly on wild and cultivated food plants. Erol Monogr 47:209–228

    Google Scholar 

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1995) Biometry, 3rd edn. Freeman, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Southwood TRE (1978) Ecological methods, 2nd edn. Chapman and Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinberg S, Dicke M, Vet LEM (1993) Relative importance of infochemicals in long range host location by the larval parasitoid Cotesia glomerata. J Chem Ecol 19:47–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Tallamy DW, Raupp MJ (eds) (1991) Phytochemical induction by herbivores. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Wratten SD, Edwards PJ, Barker AM (1990) Consequences of rapid feeding-induced changes in trees for the plant and the insect: individuals and populations. In: Watt AD, Leather SR, Hunter MD, Kidd NAC (eds) Population dynamics of forest insects. Intercept, Andover, pp 1137–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Zangerl AR (1990) Furanocoumarin induction in wild parsnip: evidence for an induced defence against herbivores. Ecology 71:1926–1932

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. A. M. Barker

    Present address: The Game Conservancy Trust, SP6 1 EF, Fordingbridge, Hampshire, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Southampton, Bassett Crescent East, SO16 7PX, Southampton, UK

    R. A. Coleman, A. M. Barker & M. Fenner

Authors
  1. R. A. Coleman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. M. Barker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. Fenner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. A. Coleman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Coleman, R.A., Barker, A.M. & Fenner, M. Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. Capitata) fails to show wound-induced defence against a specialist and a generalist herbivore?. Oecologia 108, 105–112 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00333221

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00333221

Key words

Search

Navigation