Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Saarinen, Emily

Area of Concentration

Environmental Studies

Abstract

The contrast between annual and perennial plants’ life histories results in disparities in their investments towards reproduction and defense following florivore attack. Florivores, insect herbivores that target angiosperms’ reproductive tissues, induce a variety of direct and indirect chemical and physical responses. These include changes in floral traits and in herbivore induced volatiles that alter community interactions, such as pollinator behavior. Through literature review and participation in field experiments at Wageningen University, I analyze how annuals and perennials respond to attack with different patterns of changes in flowering phenology and pollinator attraction. Floral traits in each lifestyle differed in the number of the days until flowering began, duration of flowering, and the duration of anthesis. Further, annuals and perennials differed in how infestation affected the number of pollinators they attracted. Results demonstrated evidence for increased reproductive investments in annuals and increased defense investments in perennials following infestation. The complex interactions between herbivores, their hosts, and the hosts’ pollinators can be clarified with consideration for a plant’s reproductive life history. Studies that improve our ability to predict the outcomes of insect and plant ecology could help inform management decisions for a range of objectives, including increasing agricultural yields, improving integrated pest management, and predicting the outcomes of biological control initiatives with greater accuracy.

Download

Share

COinS