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Plant size, latitude, and phylogeny explain within-population variability in herbivory

November 9, 2023
Interactions between plants and herbivores are central in most ecosystems, but their strength is highly variable. The amount of variability within a system is thought to influence most aspects of plant-herbivore biology, from ecological stability to plant defense evolution. Our understanding of what influences variability, however, is limited by sparse data. We collected standardized surveys of herbivory for 503 plant species at 790 sites across 116° of latitude. With these data, we show that within-population variability in herbivory increases with latitude, decreases with plant size, and is phylogenetically structured. Differences in the magnitude of variability are thus central to how plant-herbivore biology varies across macroscale gradients. We argue that increased focus on interaction variability will advance understanding of patterns of life on Earth.
Publication Year 2023
Title Plant size, latitude, and phylogeny explain within-population variability in herbivory
DOI 10.1126/science.adh8830
Authors Moria Robinson, Karen C Abbott, Warwick J. Allen, Janete Andrade, Diego Angulo, Diego Anjos, Daniel Anstett, Robert Bagchi, Sumanta Bagchi, Milton Barbosa, Sarah Barrett, Carina Baskett, Eyal Ben-Simchon, Kathryn Bloodworth, Judith L. Bronstein, Emilio Bruna, Yvonne Buckley, Karin Burghardt, Carlos Bustos-Segura, N. Ivalú Cacho, Eduardo Soares Calixto, Raquel Carvalho, Bastien Castagneyrol, Mariana Chiuffo, Damla Cinoğlu, Elizeth Cinto Mejia, Marina Cock, Rodrigo Cogni, Olivia Cope, Tatiana Cornelissen, Dezirea Cortez, David Crowder, Caroline Dallstream, Wesley Dáttilo, Julien Davis, Romina Dimarco, Haley Dole, Lee Dyer, Ikponmwosa Egbon, Afure Ejomah, Bret D Elderd, María-José Endara, Micky D. Eubanks, Susan Everingham, Keiko Farah, Rafael de Paiva Farias, Geraldo Fernandes, Marco Ferrante, Alain Finn, Grace Florjancic, Matthew L. Forister, Quinn Fox, Enric Frago, Filipe M. França, Abigail Getman-Pickering, Zoe Getman-Pickering, Ben Gooden, Martin M. Gossner, Keri Greig, Sofia Gripenberg, Ronny Groenteman, Patrick Grof-Tisza, Nora Haack, Lisa Hahn, Philip Hahn, Shiekh Marifatul Haq, Justus Hennecke, Sara Hermann, Liza M. Holeski, Matthew Hutchinson, Brian Inouye, Eleanor Jackson, Shinnosuke Kagiya, Michael Kalwajtys, Richard Karban, Rupesh Kariyat, Tamar Keasar, Monica Kersch-Becker, Heather Kharouba, Tania Kim, Duncan Kimuyu, Jennifer Kluse, Sally E. Koerner, Kimberly Komatsu, Sushmita Krishnan, Miika Laihonen, Lucas Lamelas-López, Michael LaScaleia, Nicolas Lecomte, Carlos Lehn, Xiaofei Li, Richard L Lindroth, Eric LoPresti, María Losada, Allison M Louthan, Victoria Luizzi, Joshua Lynn, Nicholas Lyon, Laís Maia, Renata Maia, Tosca Mannall, Bruce Martin, Tara Massad, Andrew McCall, Kelsey McGurrin, Andrew Merwin, Zarluis Mijango-Ramos, Charlotte Mills, Angela Moles, Christopher Moore, Colin Morrison, Moleseng Moshobane, Anne Muola, Ryosuke Nakadai, Kazuhide Nakajima, Samuel Novais, Charlee Ogbebor, Haruna Ohsaki, Vincent Pan, Nicholas Pardikes, Narayanaswamy Parthasarathy, Rohit Pawar, Quentin Paynter, Ian Pearse, Rachel Penczykowski, Adam Pepi, Cássio Pereira, Shyam Phartyal, Frida I. Piper, Katja Poveda, Elizabeth Pringle, Javier Puy, Teresa Quijano, Carolina Quintero, Sergio Rasmann, Christoph Rosche, Leah Rosenheim, Justin B. Runyon, Asaf Sadeh, Yuzu Sakata, Danielle Salcido, Cristian Salgado-Luarte, Bráulio Santos, Yuval Sapir, Yamila Sasal, Yasuhiro Sato, Manasi Sawant, Hayley Schroeder, Isabell Schumann, Michal Segoli, Hila Segre, Oren Shelef, Naoto Shinohara, Rachit Pratap Singh, David Smith, Mar Sobral, Gisela Stotz, Ayco Tack, Mandeep Tayal, John Tooker, Daniel Torrico-Bazoberry, Kévin Tougeron, Nora Underwood, Shunsuke Utsumi, Osariyekemwen Uyi, Jessica Vaca-Uribe, Anu Valtonen, Laura van Dijk, Vigdis Vandvik, Jesus Villellas, Lauren Waller, Marjorie G. Weber, William C. Wetzel, Susan Whitehead, Akira Yamawo, Samantha Yim, Luke Zehr, Zhiwei Zhong
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Science
Index ID 70250650
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Fort Collins Science Center