A specialist root herbivore reduces plant resistance and uses an induced plant volatile to aggregate in a density-dependent manner

1.Leaf-herbivore attack often triggers induced resistance in plants. However, certain specialist herbivores can also take advantage of the induced metabolic changes. In some cases, they even manipulate plant resistance, leading to a phenomenon called induced susceptibility. Compared to above-ground plant-insect interactions, little is known about the prevalence and consequences of induced responses below-ground. 2.A recent study suggested that feeding by the specialist root herbivore Diabrotica virgifera virgifera makes maize roots more susceptible to conspecifics. To better understand this phenomenon, we conducted a series of experiments to study the behavioural responses and elucidate the underlying biochemical mechanisms. 3.We found that D. virgifera benefitted from feeding on a root system in groups of intermediate size (3–9 larvae/plant in the laboratory), whereas its performance was reduced in large groups (12 larvae/plant). Interestingly, the herbivore was able to select host plants with a suitable density of conspecifics by using the induced plant volatile (E)-β-caryophyllene in a dose-dependent manner. Using a split root experiment, we show that the plant-induced susceptibility is systemic and, therefore, plant mediated. Chemical analyses on plant resource reallocation and defences upon herbivory showed that the systemic induced-susceptibility is likely to stem from a combination of (i) increased free amino acid concentrations and (ii) relaxation of defence inducibility. 4.These findings show that herbivores can use induced plant volatiles in a density-dependent manner to aggregate on a host plant and change its metabolism to their own benefit. Our study furthermore helps to explain the remarkable ecological success of D. virgifera in maize fields around the world.

Metabolomics in plant-herbivore interactions: challenges and applications

Metabolomics as the study of the entire set of metabolites of a given organism is an important frontier in life sciences. As a tool that captures the ‘front end’ of cellular machineries, metabolomics is particularly suited to investigate biotic interactions, including for instance the interplay between plants and insects. In this review, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of metabolomics to study plant–herbivore interactions. We first present a brief overview of the typical analytical workflows used in metabolomics and their associated issues, in particular those related to metabolome coverage and compound identification. Second, recent advances in the field of plant–herbivore relationships that are promoted by non-targeted approaches are reviewed, with examples ranging from classical herbivore resistance patterns to plant-mediated interactions across different spatial scales and volatile-mediated tritrophic interactions. Through general considerations and the discussion of a few selected case studies, our review highlights the potential and challenges of metabolomics as a research approach to understand biological interfaces.

A conserved pattern in plant-mediated interactions between herbivores

Plant‐mediated interactions between herbivores are important determinants of community structure and plant performance in natural and agricultural systems. Current research suggests that the outcome of the interactions is determined by herbivore and plant identity, which may result in stochastic patterns that impede adaptive evolution and agricultural exploitation. However, few studies have systemically investigated specificity versus general patterns in a given plant system by varying the identity of all involved players. We investigated the influence of herbivore identity and plant genotype on the interaction between leaf‐chewing and root‐feeding herbivores in maize using a partial factorial design. We assessed the influence of leaf induction by oral secretions of six different chewing herbivores on the response of nine different maize genotypes and three different root feeders. Contrary to our expectations, we found a highly conserved pattern across all three dimensions of specificity: The majority of leaf herbivores elicited a negative behavioral response from the different root feeders in the large majority of tested plant genotypes. No facilitation was observed in any of the treatment combinations. However, the oral secretions of one leaf feeder and the responses of two maize genotypes did not elicit a response from a root‐feeding herbivore. Together, these results suggest that plant‐mediated interactions in the investigated system follow a general pattern, but that a degree of specificity is nevertheless present. Our study shows that within a given plant species, plant‐mediated interactions between herbivores of the same feeding guild can be stable. This stability opens up the possibility of adaptations by associated organisms and suggests that plant‐mediated interactions may contribute more strongly to evolutionary dynamics in terrestrial (agro)ecosystems than previously assumed.

Estimation of the solubility parameters of model plant surfaces and agrochemicals: a valuable tool for understanding plant surface interactions

Background Most aerial plant parts are covered with a hydrophobic lipid-rich cuticle, which is the interface between the plant organs and the surrounding environment. Plant surfaces may have a high degree of hydrophobicity because of the combined effects of surface chemistry and roughness. The physical and chemical complexity of the plant cuticle limits the development of models that explain its internal structure and interactions with surface-applied agrochemicals. In this article we introduce a thermodynamic method for estimating the solubilities of model plant surface constituents and relating them to the effects of agrochemicals. Results Following the van Krevelen and Hoftyzer method, we calculated the solubility parameters of three model plant species and eight compounds that differ in hydrophobicity and polarity. In addition, intact tissues were examined by scanning electron microscopy and the surface free energy, polarity, solubility parameter and work of adhesion of each were calculated from contact angle measurements of three liquids with different polarities. By comparing the affinities between plant surface constituents and agrochemicals derived from (a) theoretical calculations and (b) contact angle measurements we were able to distinguish the physical effect of surface roughness from the effect of the chemical nature of the epicuticular waxes. A solubility parameter model for plant surfaces is proposed on the basis of an increasing gradient from the cuticular surface towards the underlying cell wall. Conclusions The procedure enabled us to predict the interactions among agrochemicals, plant surfaces, and cuticular and cell wall components, and promises to be a useful tool for improving our understanding of biological surface interactions.

Estimation of the solubility parameters of model plant surfaces and agrochemicals: a valuable tool for understanding plant surface interactions

Background Most aerial plant parts are covered with a hydrophobic lipid-rich cuticle, which is the interface between the plant organs and the surrounding environment. Plant surfaces may have a high degree of hydrophobicity because of the combined effects of surface chemistry and roughness. The physical and chemical complexity of the plant cuticle limits the development of models that explain its internal structure and interactions with surface-applied agrochemicals. In this article we introduce a thermodynamic method for estimating the solubilities of model plant surface constituents and relating them to the effects of agrochemicals. Results Following the van Krevelen and Hoftyzer method, we calculated the solubility parameters of three model plant species and eight compounds that differ in hydrophobicity and polarity. In addition, intact tissues were examined by scanning electron microscopy and the surface free energy, polarity, solubility parameter and work of adhesion of each were calculated from contact angle measurements of three liquids with different polarities. By comparing the affinities between plant surface constituents and agrochemicals derived from (a) theoretical calculations and (b) contact angle measurements we were able to distinguish the physical effect of surface roughness from the effect of the chemical nature of the epicuticular waxes. A solubility parameter model for plant surfaces is proposed on the basis of an increasing gradient from the cuticular surface towards the underlying cell wall. Conclusions The procedure enabled us to predict the interactions among agrochemicals, plant surfaces, and cuticular and cell wall components, and promises to be a useful tool for improving our understanding of biological surface interactions.

A Carboniferous insect gall: insight into early ecologic history of the Holometabola.

Although the prevalence or even occurrence of insect herbivory during the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) has been questioned, we present the earliest-known ecologic evidence showing that by Late Pennsylvanian times (302 million years ago) a larva of the Holometabola was galling the internal tissue of Psaronius tree-fern fronds. Several diagnostic cellular and histological features of these petiole galls have been preserved in exquisite detail, including an excavated axial lumen filled with fecal pellets and comminuted frass, plant-produced response tissue surrounding the lumen, and specificity by the larval herbivore for a particular host species and tissue type. Whereas most suggestions over-whelmingly support the evolution of such intimate and reciprocal plant-insect interactions 175 million years later, we provide documentation that before the demise of Pennsylvanian age coal-swamp forests, a highly stereotyped life cycle was already established between an insect that was consuming internal plant tissue and a vascular plant host responding to that herbivory. This and related discoveries of insect herbivore consumption of Psaronius tissues indicate that modern-style herbivores were established in Late Pennsylvanian coal-swamp forests.

The Roles of Phenotypic Plasticity and Plant-Microbe Interactions in the Evolution of Complex Traits in Boechera stricta

All organisms live in complex habitats that shape the course of their evolution by altering the phenotype expressed by a given genotype (a phenomenon known as phenotypic plasticity) and simultaneously by determining the evolutionary fitness of that phenotype. In some cases, phenotypic evolution may alter the environment experienced by future generations. This dissertation describes how genetic and environmental variation act synergistically to affect the evolution of glucosinolate defensive chemistry and flowering time in Boechera stricta, a wild perennial herb. I focus particularly on plant-associated microbes as a part of the plant’s environment that may alter trait evolution and in turn be affected by the evolution of those traits. In the first chapter I measure glucosinolate production and reproductive fitness of over 1,500 plants grown in common gardens in four diverse natural habitats, to describe how patterns of plasticity and natural selection intersect and may influence glucosinolate evolution. I detected extensive genetic variation for glucosinolate plasticity and determined that plasticity may aid colonization of new habitats by moving phenotypes in the same direction as natural selection. In the second chapter I conduct a greenhouse experiment to test whether naturally-occurring soil microbial communities contributed to the differences in phenotype and selection that I observed in the field experiment. I found that soil microbes cause plasticity of flowering time but not glucosinolate production, and that they may contribute to natural selection on both traits; thus, non-pathogenic plant-associated microbes are an environmental feature that could shape plant evolution. In the third chapter, I combine a multi-year, multi-habitat field experiment with high-throughput amplicon sequencing to determine whether B. stricta-associated microbial communities are shaped by plant genetic variation. I found that plant genotype predicts the diversity and composition of leaf-dwelling bacterial communities, but not root-associated bacterial communities. Furthermore, patterns of host genetic control over associated bacteria were largely site-dependent, indicating an important role for genotype-by-environment interactions in microbiome assembly. Together, my results suggest that soil microbes influence the evolution of plant functional traits and, because they are sensitive to plant genetic variation, this trait evolution may alter the microbial neighborhood of future B. stricta generations. Complex patterns of plasticity, selection, and symbiosis in natural habitats may impact the evolution of glucosinolate profiles in Boechera stricta.

Bat-plant pollination interactions in southern Thailand

The overwhelming majority of flowering plant species depend on animals for pollination, and such pollinators are important for the reproductive success of many economically and environmentally important plant species. Yet pollinators in the Old World tropics are relatively understudied, particularly paleotropical nectarivorous bats (Pteropodidae), and much is unknown about their interactions with night-blooming plant species. To better understand these bat-plant pollination interactions, I conducted fieldwork in southern Thailand for a total of 20 months, spread across three years. I examined the foraging times of pteropodid bat species (Chapter 1), and found that strictly nectarivorous species foraged earlier, and for a shorter duration, than primarily frugivorous species. I also studied year-long foraging patterns of pteropodid bats to determine how different species track floral resources across seasons (Chapter 2). Larger species capable of flying long distances switched diets seasonally to forage on the most abundant floral species, while smaller species foraged throughout the year on nearby plant species that were low-rewarding but highly reliable. To determine which pteropodid species are potentially important pollinators, I quantified the frequency and effectiveness of their visits to six common bat-pollinated plant taxa for an entire year (Chapter 3). The three strictly nectarivorous species were responsible for almost all pollination, but pollinator importance of each bat species varied across plant species. I further examined the long-term reliability of these pollinators (Chapter 4), and found that pollinator importance values were consistent across the three study years. Lastly, I explored mechanisms that reduce interspecific pollen transfer among bat-pollinated plants, despite having shared pollinators. Using a flight cage experiment, I demonstrated that these plant species deposit pollen on different areas of the bat’s body (mechanical partitioning), resulting in greater pollen transfer between conspecific flowers than heterospecific flowers (Chapter 5). Additionally, while I observed ecological and phenological overlap among flowering plant species, pollinators exhibited high floral constancy within a night, resulting in strong ethological separation (Chapter 6). Collectively, these findings illustrate the importance of understudied Old World bat pollinators within a mixed agricultural-forest system, and their strong, interdependent interactions with bat-pollinated plant species within a night, across seasons, and across years.

Conifer defence against insects: microarray gene expression profiling of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) induced by mechanical wounding or feeding by spruce budworms (Choristoneura occidentalis) or white pine weevils (Pissodes strobi) reveals large

Conifers are resistant to attack from a large number of potential herbivores or pathogens. Previous molecular and biochemical characterization of selected conifer defence systems support a model of multigenic, constitutive and induced defences that act on invading insects via physical, chemical, biochemical or ecological (multitrophic) mechanisms. However, the genomic foundation of the complex defence and resistance mechanisms of conifers is largely unknown. As part of a genomics strategy to characterize inducible defences and possible resistance mechanisms of conifers against insect herbivory, we developed a cDNA microarray building upon a new spruce (Picea spp.) expressed sequence tag resource. This first-generation spruce cDNA microarray contains 9720 cDNA elements representing c. 5500 unique genes. We used this array to monitor gene expression in Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) bark in response to herbivory by white pine weevils (Pissodes strobi, Curculionidae) or wounding, and in young shoot tips in response to western spruce budworm (Choristoneura occidentalis, Lepidopterae) feeding. Weevils are stem-boring insects that feed on phloem, while budworms are foliage feeding larvae that consume needles and young shoot tips. Both insect species and wounding treatment caused substantial changes of the host plant transcriptome detected in each case by differential gene expression of several thousand array elements at 1 or 2 d after the onset of treatment. Overall, there was considerable overlap among differentially expressed gene sets from these three stress treatments. Functional classification of the induced transcripts revealed genes with roles in general plant defence, octadecanoid and ethylene signalling, transport, secondary metabolism, and transcriptional regulation. Several genes involved in primary metabolic processes such as photosynthesis were down-regulated upon insect feeding or wounding, fitting with the concept of dynamic resource allocation in plant defence. Refined expression analysis using gene-specific primers and real-time PCR for selected transcripts was in agreement with microarray results for most genes tested. This study provides the first large-scale survey of insect-induced defence transcripts in a gymnosperm and provides a platform for functional investigation of plant-insect interactions in spruce. Induction of spruce genes of octadecanoid and ethylene signalling, terpenoid biosynthesis, and phenolic secondary metabolism are discussed in more detail.

Consequences of Corymbia (Myrtaceae) hybridisation on leaf-oil profiles

The present study examines patterns of heritability of plant secondary metabolites following hybridisation among three genetically homogeneous taxa of spotted gum (Corymbia henryi (S.T.Blake) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson, C. citriodora subsp. variegata (F.Muell.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson and C. citriodora (Hook.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson subsp. citriodora (section Maculatae), and their congener C. torelliana (F.Muell.) K.D.Hill & L.A.S.Johnson (section Torellianae)). Hexane extracts of leaves of all four parent taxa were statistically distinguishable (ANOSIM: global R = 0.976, P = 0.008). Hybridisation patterns varied among the taxa studied, with the hybrid formed with C. citriodora subsp. variegata showing an intermediate extractive profile between its parents, whereas the profiles of the other two hybrids were dominated by that of C. torelliana. These different patterns in plant secondary-metabolite inheritance may have implications for a range of plant-insect interactions.

四川黄龙杓兰属植物的传粉生物学

兰科植物传粉生物学的研究以往多集中于单个物种上，很少对两个以上的物种同时进行研究。但后一类研究对于理解一个地区或一个代表类群的传粉适应是大有裨益和非常必要的，毕竟单一种植物与其传粉者在一个居群或是一年中的相互关系所提供的有效信息是非常有限的。杓兰属Cypripedium L.是兰科植物中比较原始的类群，全世界约有50种;中国是杓兰属植物的分布中心，有30多种。但是，有关该属植物的传粉生物学研究集中在欧、美的种类，中国绝大部分物种尚未进行这方面的研究。本文通过对分布于四川省黄龙寺自然保护区的8种杓兰属植物的传粉生物学研究，探讨了该属植物的传粉机制、适应进化及生殖隔离等问题。 1． 杓兰属植物的繁育系统 虽然所研究的8种杓兰人工自交授粉均可以成功结实，但在自然条件下都必须依赖于昆虫才能结实成功，表明杓兰属植物的繁殖系统以异交授粉为主。 2． 杓兰属植物的传粉系统以及传粉系统的进化趋势 杓兰属植物一向被认为是典型的蜂类传粉物种，本文所包括的西藏杓兰C. tibeticum King ex Rolfe、离萼杓兰C. plectrochilum Franch.、绿花杓兰C. henryi Rolfe与褐花杓兰C. smithii Schltr.的传粉生物学研究也证明了这一点。但研究发现最进化的“无苞组”的3种杓兰，即无苞杓兰C. bardolphianum W. W. Smith et Farrer、小花杓兰C. micranthum Franch.与四川杓兰C. sichuanense Perner都是由蝇类传粉的，而黄花杓兰C. flavum P. F. Hunt et Summerh.则可由蜂类和蝇类共同传粉。结合杓兰的种间系统关系，本文认为杓兰属中存在从蜂类传粉系统向蝇类传粉系统的进化趋势。 3．杓兰属植物传粉系统的特化机制 传粉观察表明8种杓兰均有多种多样的访花昆虫，但只有1种或1类具有相同功能的昆虫能成为其传粉者。这说明杓兰属植物是具备特化传粉系统的种类。以离萼杓兰为例进行的花色、花香及花结构的分析表明，杓兰拥有特化的传粉者几乎完全是由于受到花结构的限制，特别是雄蕊到唇瓣底高度（AL）、柱头到唇瓣底高度（SL）、唇瓣入口直径（DL）与唇瓣出口宽度（EL）的大小。这些因素决定了昆虫是否能进入唇瓣，是否能碰触到柱头和花粉，是否能从出口挤出来。因此，杓兰的唇瓣的主要功能不仅是象原来所认为的作为“陷阱”来诱捕昆虫，而且同样作为一种促进产生“特化传粉”的机制而存在。 4． 杓兰属植物吸引昆虫的机制 杓兰属植物具有复杂的吸引昆虫的机制。离萼杓兰、黄花杓兰主要以泛化的食源性欺骗机制来吸引昆虫，绿花杓兰能通过其唇瓣和退化雄蕊的光滑特性诱使其传粉昆虫被动进入唇瓣中，西藏杓兰可以通过“筑巢式欺骗”来吸引昆虫，无苞杓兰则可通过模拟成熟果实来吸引其特化的传粉者—果蝇Drosophila spp.。 5． 杓兰属植物的花部特征与传粉系统的适应 在整个杓兰属内，不同种类植物的花色与花香和传粉者种类间没有统一的规律。但是，杓兰属植物的唇瓣大小与其传粉者大小之间存在比较明显的适应关系。体积最大的西藏杓兰、褐花杓兰与黄花杓兰由体型最大的熊蜂Bombus spp.传粉，体积中等的离萼杓兰、绿花杓兰、四川杓兰由中等大小的蜂或蝇传粉，而体积最小的无苞杓兰与小花杓兰由体型很小的果蝇传粉。 在杓兰属中，大部分种类的花粉只是粘性的团状，只有一部分能在一次访问中被昆虫带出，如黄花杓兰、西藏杓兰、离萼杓兰及绿花杓兰的花粉团。与此不同，在2个“无苞组”的杓兰，即无苞杓兰、小花杓兰中，它们的花粉凝聚成块状，而且它们的传粉昆虫(果蝇)的一次访问可带出一侧雄蕊的全部花粉。它们的花粉成块可能是对果蝇这类小昆虫传粉的一种适应。 6． 杓兰属植物的生殖隔离机制 本文的研究表明，杓兰属植物之间人工杂交授粉可以成功结实，它们主要是通过受精前隔离机制保持物种界限的。它们的受精前隔离机制多种多样。具有相同传粉者—果蝇的无苞杓兰与小花杓兰通过地理隔离机制保持物种界限; 同域的西藏杓兰与黄花杓兰通过利用不同大小的熊蜂作为传粉者来保持生殖隔离;同域的离萼杓兰与绿花杓兰可能通过花香成分的不同特化吸引同一属中不同种的传粉昆虫;而同域的西藏杓兰与褐花杓兰之间并不具备完善的生殖隔离机制。

广布小蝶兰及两种根茎兰属植物的传粉生物学研究

植物与传粉者的关系并非一门独立的学科，它包含很多进化生物学的内容。传粉生物学研究为我们理解植物进化的一些关键问题，如生殖隔离、物种形成、适应进化等提供重要证据。兰科植物由于其精巧的花部结构及其独特的传粉机制，备受传粉生物学家的关注。从达尔文时代以来，有大量的文献记载了欧洲兰族植物的传粉生物学的各个方面，其中，共涉及4种欺骗性传粉方式，它们几乎代表了兰科植物中近1/3没有报偿兰花所有的欺骗类型。然而，到目前为止，尽管在中国有丰富的兰族植物资源，中国兰科植物的传粉生物学研究仍然很缺乏。 在本研究中，作者以黄龙自然保护区内兰族的2种根茎兰属植物和1种小蝶兰属植物为材料，研究它们的传粉生物学，并探讨他们之间的生殖隔离机制。 1． 根茎兰属Galearis 及小蝶兰属Ponerorchis植物的交配系统 所研究的2种根茎兰属植物和1种小蝶兰属植物人工自交授粉均可以成功结实。在自然条件下，广布小蝶兰和二叶根茎兰都必须依赖于昆虫才能结实成功，而黄龙根茎兰则是以自花授粉为主。 2． 广布小蝶兰Ponerorchis chusua的传粉系统 在黄龙自然保护区进行了连续2 年的野外观测和实验，结果表明，广布小蝶兰是一种自交亲和，但需要昆虫传粉的欺骗性植物。广布小蝶兰的主要传粉者为雌性Bombus rufofasciatus，雌性B. consobrinus wittenburg，B. cucorun的蜂王和雄性B. pyrosona。熊蜂对广布小蝶兰具有典型的欺骗性兰花传粉的特征，即访问十分迅速，并且一般一个植株只访问一朵花，避免了同株异花授粉。 3． 二叶根茎兰Galearis diantha的传粉系统 野外观察表明，二叶根茎兰只有一种有效的传粉者，其访问频率不高，访 问时间短，并且会一次访问一个植株的两朵花，不可避免的产生同株异花授粉。自然结实率为23.0－26.8％，人工授粉实验证明传粉者限制是结实率较低的主要原因。 4. 黄龙根茎兰Galearis huanglongensis的传粉系统 研究结果表明，黄龙根茎兰为自动自花授粉的植物，黄龙根茎兰的花粉约在花开放4天后，花粉块从花粉囊中掉出，由于重力作用，花粉块柄弯曲使花粉接触到柱头，完成传粉。 5. 根茎兰属Galearis及小蝶兰属Ponerorchis植物的生殖隔离机制 本文的研究表明，根茎兰属内的杂交及与小蝶兰属间植物之间人工杂交授粉均可以成功结实，它们物种之间的生殖隔离主要是通过受精前隔离机制。具有相同传粉者（B. rufofasciatus）的广布小蝶兰与二叶根茎兰通过机械隔离机制保持物种界限。

CO2浓度升高对三种树木叶片化学和舞毒蛾幼虫取食及生长的影响

探讨全球气候变化的生物学和生态学效应是当今生态学中的热点，研究大气CO2浓度升高对植物-昆虫相互作用关系的影响具有重要的理论和实践意义。本文使用开顶式气室（Open-top chamber，OTC）在野外条件下研究了CO2浓度升高对三种树木（小青杨、白桦和蒙古栎）叶片化学成分含量的影响，以及树木叶片品质变化对一种广食性森林昆虫（舞毒蛾）幼虫取食、生长发育和取食偏嗜性的影响。得出如下结果：（1）CO2浓度升高对3个受试树种叶片中的营养成分及次生代谢物含量均有显著影响，总体表现为氮含量降低，而碳氮比、非结构性碳水化合物、总酚和缩合丹宁含量增加。叶片中的化学成分含量可随时间发生显著变化，不同树种、甚至同一树种不同冠层高度的叶片对CO2浓度升高的响应强度也是不同的。叶片的干物质含量和比叶重对CO2浓度升高的响应不显著。（2）室内非选择性取食实验、室内选择性取食实验以及上树取食饲养方式下的多龄期取食实验，均发现高浓度CO2处理组内舞毒蛾幼虫的生长发育受到显著抑制。但对四龄舞毒蛾幼虫所进行的短期生物测定并未发现不同CO2浓度处理下幼虫的生长发育速率、对食物的取食率和转化率等昆虫营养指标存在显著差异。（3）叶片品质的降低是导致舞毒蛾幼虫生长发育受抑制的主要原因。但是总体上，CO2浓度升高导致的叶片品质变化并未显著影响幼虫的取食率和取食量。（4）舞毒蛾幼虫对不同叶片种类表现出清晰的取食选择性，这种选择性在其幼龄期就可表现出来。幼虫对小青杨上层叶片有最显著的偏嗜性，对蒙古栎下层叶片有最明显的拒食性。但是CO2浓度升高导致的叶片品质变化对舞毒蛾幼虫的取食选择性和寄主偏嗜行为并未产生显著影响。（5）检测出高浓度CO2处理组内舞毒蛾幼虫虫粪中含有浓度更高的植物次生代谢物质（总酚和缩合单宁），这很可能是昆虫整体生长发育受抑制的重要原因之一。

Níveis constitutivos de compostos fenólicos podem estar relacionados à resistência da cana-de-açúcar à cigarrinha-das-raízes

The interaction of the leafhopper-of-roots with the sugar cane is still poorly marked and there is little information on resistant varieties. The phenolic compounds are involved in resistance mechanisms of the antibiosis type, but few studies are devoted to the studying role of these compounds in the interaction of plants with sucking insects. The study was conducted to determine how the sugar cane responded to the infestation of Mahanarva fimbriolata in terms of accumulation of phenolic compounds. An experiment was carried out under controlled conditions in a randomized design in a factorial schedule 3 x 2 x 4, with 3 genotypes and sugar cane, 2 levels of nymphs infestation of M. fimbriolata and sampling 4 times, with 4 repetitions. The genotypes SP80-1816 and RB72454 showed higher levels of total phenols when subjected to an infestation of the pest, but the duration of the nymphal stage and mortality of sharpshooters were significantly lower in those varieties, indicating that the increase in the concentration of phenolic compounds may had been caused by death and decay of the roots. It was not observed variation in levels of total phenols in the variety SP83- 5073 subject to an infestation of M. fimbriolata. However, the mortality of the leafhopperof- roots and duration of the stage of nymphs were significantly higher in genotype, indicating the existence of resistance-type antibiosis. Analysis of correlation showed that higher initial levels of phenolic compounds resulting in mortality of the pest can increase the duration of the nymph stage.