Herbivory can induce both general and specific responses in plants that modify direct and indirect defense against subsequent herbivory. The type of induction (local versus systemic induction, single versus multiple defense induction) likely depends both on herbivore identity and relationships among different responses.

Recent and accumulating evidence suggests that herbivore identity determines specific plant physiological and defensive responses, yet it is unclear to what degree herbivory can induce both highly specific and broad chemical changes in plants across different defense classes.  

Under the guidance of Prof. DING Jianqing, XIAO Li, who graduated from Wuhan Botanical Garden, conducted a research to examined the effects of multiple herbivores as well as two important plant signaling hormones methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid on indirect defense and direct defenses in leaves and roots of tallow tree, Triadica sebifera.  

They found the different herbivores induced highly specific plant responses; moreover, the simultaneous and relative induction of different defense types (e.g. phenolics versus flavonoids) depended on the herbivore identity and plant part (roots versus shoots).  

These results suggest that herbivore identity can affect plant induced chemical trade-offs, which may also vary with defensive chemical identity.

These findings reflect the likely complexity of defensive trait evolution, and the high degree of specificity in plant defense induction, which provides a better understanding of the evolutionary interactions between plants and insects. 

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program and National Science Foundation (NSF) of China.

The results were published on AoB PLANTS entitled "Herbivore-specific induction of indirect and direct defensive responses in leaves and roots".