Arjen Biere

The distylous plant Primula veris has long served as a model species for studying heterostyly, that is the occurrence of multiple floral morphs within a population to ensure outcrossing. Habitat loss, reduced plant population sizes, and climate change have raised concerns about the impact of these factors on morph ratios and the related consequences on fitness of heterostylous species. We studied the deviation of floral morphs of P. veris from isoplethy (i.e. equal frequency) in response to plant population size, landscape context and climatic factors, based on a pan-European citizen science campaign involving observations from 28 countries. In addition, we examined the relative frequency of morphs to determine whether landscape and climatic factors disrupt morph frequencies or whether a specific morph has an advantage over the other. Theory predicts equal frequencies of short-styled S-morphs and long-styled L-morphs in populations at equilibrium. However, data from >3000 populations showed a substantial morph deviation from isoplethy and a significant excess of S-morphs (9% higher compared to L-morphs). Deviation of morph frequency from equilibrium was substantially stronger in smaller populations and was not affected by morph identity. Higher summer precipitation and land use intensity were associated with an increased prevalence of S-morphs. Five populations containing individuals exhibiting short homostyle phenotypes (with the style and anthers in low positions) were found. Genotyping of the individuals at CYP734A50 gene of the S locus, which determines the length of the style and the position of anthers of P. veris, revealed no mutations in this region. Our results based on an unprecedented geographic sampling suggest that changes in land use and climate may be responsible for non-equilibrium morph frequencies. This large-scale citizen science initiative sets foundations for future studies to clarify whether the unexpected excess of S-morphs is due to partial intra-morph compatibility, disruption of heterostyly or survival advantage of S-morphs. Synthesis. Human-induced environmental change may affect biodiversity indirectly through altering reproductive traits, which can also lead to reduced fitness and genetic diversity. Further research should consider the possible role of pollinators in mediating the ecological and evolutionary consequences of recent landscape and climatic shifts on plant reproductive traits.

Beneficial microbes induce resistance in plants (MIR), imposing both lethal and sublethal effects on herbivorous insects. We argue that herbivores surviving MIR carry metabolic and immunological imprints of MIR with cascading effects across food webs. We propose that incorporating such cascading effects will strongly enhance the current MIR research framework.

Insect herbivory can affect interactions between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi through herbivore-modified root carbon pools, while the specific metabolic changes underlying fungal responses to herbivory are poorly understood. Here we explored the impacts of foliar herbivory and mechanical wounding on AM colonisation and AM community composition of common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) and the role of root metabolites in mediating these effects. Foliar insect herbivory enhanced AM colonisation, whereas mechanical wounding only enhanced AM colonisation in combination with application of caterpillar oral secretions. Meanwhile, the relative abundance of Glomus species was increased in root endosphere, rhizoplane and rhizosphere soils after foliar herbivory. Foliar herbivory also increased the concentrations of fatty acids in roots but decreased phenolics, and their concentrations were significantly correlated with AM colonisation. Addition of exudates from plants exposed to herbivory resulted in increases in AM colonisation of plants without herbivory. Moreover, widely targeted metabolomic analyses revealed that foliar herbivory enhanced the relative abundance of lipids and decreased phenols in root exudates. Synthesis. We show that plants can enhance their associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi when subject to above-ground herbivory, possibly mediated by herbivore-induced increases in the levels of root lipids. Our findings highlight the role of root lipids in above-below-ground biological interactions, providing novel insights into plant-AM fungi integrative responses to biotic stresses.

Insect herbivores and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) often occur simultaneously on a host plant, altering plant morphological and biochemical traits and thereby not only affecting each other’s performance, but also plant interactions with subsequent above- or belowground herbivores. Here, we investigate the combined effects of AMF and above- and belowground herbivory on plant productivity and performance of subsequent above- and belowground herbivores. We conducted a 3 × 2 full-factorial experiment with three levels of ‘Herbivory (no herbivory, leaf herbivory, and tuber herbivory) and two levels of ‘AMF inoculation’ (no AMF inoculation and AMF inoculation) in the tuber-plant, potato (Solanum tuberosum). We showed that both AMF and tuber herbivory increased tuber biomass and tuber primary metabolites (protein, starch). Tuber herbivory reduced the performance of subsequent conspecifics feeding on leaves potentially via increased leaf levels of phenolics, α-solanine and α-chaconine. By contrast, it increased the performance of subsequent conspecifics feeding on tubers potentially via increased protein, however, only in plants inoculated with AMF. This indicates that the belowground facilitation among conspecific insects was contingent upon the presence of AMF. Leaf herbivory did not affect subsequent above- or belowground insect performance. These feedings improve our understanding of the ecological consequences of antagonists and mutualists interactions mediated by phytochemistry, especially for agroecosystems.

Entomopathogenic fungi have been well exploited as biocontrol agents that can kill insects through direct contact. However, recent research has shown that they can also play an important role as plant endophytes, stimulating plant growth, and indirectly suppressing pest populations. In this study, we examined the indirect, plant-mediated, effects of a strain of entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium brunneum on plant growth and population growth of two-spotted spider mites (Tetranychus urticae) in tomato, using different inoculation methods (seed treatment, soil drenching and a combination of both). Furthermore, we investigated changes in tomato leaf metabolites (sugars and phenolics), and rhizosphere microbial communities in response to M. brunneum inoculation and spider mite feeding. A significant reduction in spider mite population growth was observed in response to M. brunneum inoculation. The reduction was strongest when the inoculum was supplied both as seed treatment and soil drench. This combination treatment also yielded the highest shoot and root biomass in both spider mite-infested and non-infested plants, while spider mite infestation increased shoot but reduced root biomass. Fungal treatments did not consistently affect leaf chlorogenic acid and rutin concentrations, but M. brunneum inoculation via a combination of seed treatment and soil drenching reinforced chlorogenic acid (CGA) induction in response to spider mites and under these conditions the strongest spider mite resistance was observed. However, it is unclear whether the M. brunneum-induced increase in CGA contributed to the observed spider mite resistance, as no general association between CGA levels and spider mite resistance was observed. Spider mite infestation resulted in up to two-fold increase in leaf sucrose concentrations and a three to five-fold increase in glucose and fructose concentrations, but these concentrations were not affected by fungal inoculation. Metarhizium, especially when applied as soil drench, impacted the fungal community composition but not the bacterial community composition which was only affected by the presence of spider mites. Our results suggest that in addition to directly killing spider mites, M. brunneum can indirectly suppress spider mite populations on tomato, although the underlying mechanism has not yet been resolved, and can also affect the composition of the soil microbial community.

Introduction: Fitness of plants is affected by their symbiotic interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and such effects are highly dependent on the environmental context. Methods: In the current study, we inoculated the nursery shrub species Artemisia ordosica with AMF species Funneliformis mosseae under contrasting levels of soil water and nutrients (diammonium phosphate fertilization), to assess their effects on plant growth, physiology and natural infestation by herbivores. Results: Overall, plant biomass was synergistically enhanced by increasing soil water and soil nutrient levels. However, plant height was surprisingly repressed by AMF inoculation, but only under low water conditions. Similarly, plant biomass was also reduced by AMF but only under low water and nutrient conditions. Furthermore, AMF significantly reduced leaf phosphorus levels, that were strongly enhanced under high nutrient conditions, but had only minor effects on leaf chlorophyll and proline levels. Under low water and nutrient conditions, specific root length was enhanced, but average root diameter was decreased by AMF inoculation. The negative effects of AMF on plant growth at low water and nutrient levels may indicate that under these conditions AMF inoculation does not strongly contribute to nutrient and water acquisition. On the contrary, the AMF might have suppressed the direct pathway of water and nutrient absorption by the plant roots themselves despite low levels of mycorrhizal colonization. AMF inoculation reduced the abundance of the foliar herbivore Chrysolina aeruginosa on plants that had been grown on the low nutrient soil, but not on high nutrient soil. Fertilization enhanced the abundance of this herbivore but only in plants that had received the high water treatment. The lower abundance of the herbivore on AMF plants could be related to their decreased leaf P content. In conclusion, our results indicate that AMF negatively affect the growth of Artemisia ordosica but makes them less attractive to a dominant herbivore. Discussion: Our study highlights that plant responses to AMF depend not only on the environmental context, but that the direction of the responses can differ for different components of plant performance (growth vs. defense).

Beneficial soil microbes can enhance plant growth and defense, but the extent to which this occurs depends on the availability of resources, such as water and nutrients. However, relatively little is known about the role of light quality, which is altered during shading, resulting a low red: far-red ratio (R:FR) of light. We examined how low R:FR light influences arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF)-mediated changes in plant growth and defense using Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) and the insect herbivore Chrysodeixis chalcites. We also examined effects on third trophic level interactions with the parasitoid Cotesia marginiventris. Under low R:FR light, non-mycorrhizal plants activated the shade avoidance syndrome (SAS), resulting in enhanced biomass production. However, mycorrhizal inoculation decreased stem elongation in shaded plants, thus counteracting the plant’s SAS response to shading. Unexpectedly, activation of SAS under low R:FR light did not increase plant susceptibility to the herbivore in either non-mycorrhizal or mycorrhizal plants. AMF did not significantly affect survival or growth of caterpillars and parasitoids but suppressed herbivore-induced expression of jasmonic acid-signaled defenses genes under low R:FR light. These results highlight the context-dependency of AMF effects on plant growth and defense and the potentially adverse effects of AMF under shading.

Many specialist herbivores have evolved strategies to cope with plant defences, with gut microbiota potentially participating to such adaptations. In this study, we assessed whether the history of plant use (population origin) and microbiota may interact with plant defence adaptation. We tested whether microbiota enhance the performance of Melitaea cinxia larvae on their host plant, Plantago lanceolata and increase their ability to cope the defensive compounds, iridoid glycosides (IGs). The gut microbiota were significantly affected by both larval population origin and host plant IG level. Contrary to our prediction, impoverishing the microbiota with antibiotic treatment did not reduce larval performance. As expected for this specialized insect herbivore, sequestration of one of IGs was higher in larvae fed with plants producing higher concentration of IGs. These larvae also showed metabolic signature of intoxication (i.e. decrease in Lysine levels). However, intoxication on highly defended plants was only observed when larvae with a history of poorly defended plants were simultaneously treated with antibiotics. Our results suggest that both adaptation and microbiota contribute to the metabolic response of herbivores to plant defence though complex interactions. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Interactions with soil microbes can strongly affect plant growth and defense against aboveground herbivores. Plant species often accumulate specific soil pathogens in their rhizosphere, leading to reduced growth of plants in soils originating from stands of conspecific plants compared to soils from heterospecific plants. However, whereas effects of such conspecific vs. heterospecific soil biota on plant growth have been well documented, their effects on plant resistance and tolerance to aboveground insect herbivores have not. We compared growth and defense of Triadica sebifera plants from populations where the species is native (China), when grown in sterilized soils, or in soils harbouring belowground biota from conspecific (native Triadica) or heterospecific (native grass) soils. In each of these soils, plants were exposed to a 15-day period of foliar herbivory by a specialist weevil (Heterapoderopsis bicallosicollis), a specialist caterpillar (Gadirtha inexacta), or no herbivory (cage), followed by a 60-day recovery period. Soil biota from conspecific and hetetospecific soils differed in their effects on plant growth and defense. First, in the absence of herbivory, soil biota from heterospecific soils slightly enhanced plant growth, whereas those from conspecific soils strongly reduced plant growth. Second, soil biota from conspecific soils strongly affected plant resistance and tolerance to foliar herbivory, whereas soil biota from heterospecific plants did not. The effects of soil biota on plant defense were herbivore-specific. In particular, conspecific soil biota reduced resistance to caterpillar but not to weevil feeding, whereas they enhanced tolerance to weevil but not to caterpillar feeding. Conspecific soil biota also mitigated induction of root flavonoids by herbivores and led to reduced root phenolics in response to herbivory. Conversely, caterpillar feeding increased AMF colonization, but under these conditions, AMF colonization was negatively associated with plant biomass. In addition to testing effects on native plants, we also tested effects of native soil biota on growth and resistance of plants from the introduced range (North America). Plants from the introduced range had higher shoot production, shoot-to-root ratio, and leaf phenolic and flavonoid production than plants from the native range, but their interactions with soil biota showed only minor differences compared to plants from the native range. Our results suggest that incorporating the effects of soil biota in interactions between plants and foliar herbivores is critical for understanding variations in growth, defense, and performance among plant populations at local and broader geographic scales.

Plant protection with beneficial microbes is considered to be a promising alternative to chemical control of pests and pathogens. Beneficial microbes can boost plant defences via induced systemic resistance (ISR), enhancing plant resistance against future biotic stresses. Although the use of ISR-inducing microbes in agriculture seems promising, the activation of ISR is context-dependent: it often occurs only under particular biotic and abiotic conditions, thus making its use unpredictable and hindering its application. Although major breakthroughs in research on mechanistic aspects of ISR have been reported, ISR research is mainly conducted under highly controlled conditions, differing from those in agricultural systems. This forms one of the bottlenecks for the development of applications based on ISR-inducing microbes in commercial agriculture. We propose an approach that explicitly incorporates context-dependent factors in ISR research to improve the predictability of ISR induction under environmentally variable conditions. Here, we highlight how abiotic and biotic factors influence plant–microbe interactions in the context of ISR. We also discuss the need to raise awareness in harnessing interdisciplinary efforts between researchers and stakeholders partaking in the development of applications involving ISR-inducing microbes for sustainable agriculture.

Recent research shows that earthworms can alter defense traits of plants against herbivores and pathogens by affecting soil biochemistry. Yet, the effects of invasive earthworms on defense traits of native plants from previously earthworm-free ecosystems as well as the consequences for multitrophic interactions are virtually unknown. Here we use a combination of an observational study and a complementary experimental study to investigate the effects of invasive earthworms on leaf defense traits, herbivore damage and pathogen infection in two poplar tree species (Populus balsamifera and Populus tremuloides) native to North American boreal forests. Our observational study showed that earthworm invasion was associated with enhanced leaf herbivory (by leaf-chewing insects) in saplings of both tree species. However, we only detected significant shifts in the concentration of chemical defense compounds in response to earthworm invasion for P. balsamifera. Specifically, leaf phenolic concentrations, including salicinoids and catechin, were lower in P. balsamifera from earthworm-invaded sites. Our experimental study confirmed an earthworm-induced reduction in leaf defense levels in P. balsamifera for one of the defense compounds, tremulacin. The experimental study additionally showed that invasive earthworms reduced leaf dry matter content, potentially increasing leaf palatability, and enhanced susceptibility of trees to infection by a fungal pathogen, but not to aphid infestation, in the same tree species. Synthesis. Our results show that invasive earthworms can decrease the concentrations of some chemical defense compounds in P. balsamifera, which could make them susceptible to leaf-chewing insects. Such potential impacts of invasive earthworms are likely to have implications for tree survival and competition, native tree biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Plant–microbe–arthropod (PMA) three-way interactions have important implications for plant health. However, our poor understanding of the underlying regulatory mechanisms hampers their biotechnological applications. To this end, we searched for potential common patterns in plant responses regarding taxonomic groups or lifestyles. We found that most signaling modules regulating two-way interactions also operate in three-way interactions. Furthermore, the relative contribution of signaling modules to the final plant response cannot be directly inferred from two-way interactions. Moreover, our analyses show that three-way interactions often result in the activation of additional pathways, as well as in changes in the speed or intensity of defense activation. Thus, detailed, basic knowledge of plant–microbe–arthropod regulation will be essential for the design of environmentally friendly crop management strategies.

DNA methylation is one of the mechanisms underlying epigenetic modifications. DNA methylations can be environmentally induced and such induced modifications can at times be transmitted to successive generations. However, it remains speculative how common such environmentally induced transgenerational DNA methylation changes are and if they persist for more than one offspring generation. We exposed multiple accessions of two different apomictic dandelion lineages of the Taraxacum officinale group (Taraxacum alatum and T. hemicyclum) to drought and salicylic acid (SA) treatment. Using methylation-sensitive amplified fragment length polymorphism markers (MS-AFLPs) we screened anonymous methylation changes at CCGG restriction sites throughout the genome after stress treatments and assessed the heritability of induced changes for two subsequent unexposed offspring generations. Irrespective of the initial stress treatment, a clear buildup of heritable DNA methylation variation was observed across three generations, indicating a considerable background rate of heritable epimutations. Less evidence was detected for environmental effects. Drought stress showed some evidence for accession-specific methylation changes, but only in the exposed generation and not in their offspring. By contrast, SA treatment caused an increased rate of methylation change in offspring of treated plants. These changes were seemingly undirected resulting in increased transgenerational epigenetic variation between offspring individuals, but not in predictable epigenetic variants. While the functional consequences of these MS-AFLP-detected DNA methylation changes remain to be demonstrated, our study shows that (1) stress-induced transgenerational DNA methylation modification in dandelions is genotype and context-specific; and (2) inherited environmental DNA methylation effects are mostly undirected and not targeted to specific loci.

In asexual organisms, the clone constitutes a level above the individual. Most dandelions (Taraxacum officinale s.l.) reproduce asexually through apomixis, asexual reproduction through seeds. A clone can be seen as a superorganism that is born, that growths, degenerates and eventually dies. Apomixis in dandelions is controlled by a few dominant genes, the so called apomixis-genes. This implies that there should be three hierarchical levels in a field of dandelions: 1. the individual plant, 2. the clone and 3. the apomixis gene. Using co-dominant genetic markers that are linked to a dominant apomixis gene, we provide evidence that this hierarchical structure indeed exists in apomictic dandelion populations. The apomixis gene view implies that whereas individual clones may go extinct due to deleterious mutation accumulation or the lack of adaptive potential, apomixis genes can prevail much longer periods of evolutionary time in a succession of clones. We provide evidence that an apomixis-gene in Taraxacum is not transmitted to diploid offspring, which could explain the absence of apomixis in diploid dandelions. Haploid non-transmission may be caused by a mutation load that is linked to the apomixis genes as a consequence of the deep asexual reproduction history of these genes residing in many clones in the past.

Timing of peak ovule production mainly depended on the start of flowering which varied significantly among half sib families. Within individuals, a twofold variation in ovule number per capsule was dependent on the position of capsules within an inflorescence. Due to the very regular developmental pattern of inflorescences, this within-plant variation did not contribute to variation in potential seed yield among individuals of similar stature. Between flowering plants, ovule production varied 35-fold, mainly due to the variation in environmental conditions and maternal parent. At low nutrient levels, the total potential varied 35-fold, mainly due to the variation in environmental conditions and maternal parent. At low nutrient levels, the total potential seed yield was tightly buffered by negative correlations among yield components, but in nutrient-rich conditions correlations were positive or non-significant. Significant differences in the quality of seeds from different origins were observed, but from a population dynamics point of view they are of minor importance for variation in fecundity compared to quantitative differences in seed yield. -from Authors