Costs and benefits of plant resistance to herbivory.

Presents a graphical model which states that allocatiitn of plant resources to defense against herbivores evolves so as to maximize the difference between benefits and costs associated with resistance. A method for quantification of such costs, using genetic regression coefficients between fitness and defense, is described. This technique was applied to measure the cost to tall morning glory Ipomoea purpurea of resistance to sweet potato flea beetle Chaetocnema confinis. The morning glory population exhibited significant amounts of heritable variation in resistance in flea beetles, but there was no evidence for costs of resistance to plants.-from Authors

Duke Scholars

Author Mark D. Rausher Biology