Abstract
When multiple insect herbivores specialize on well-defended plants, they often show convergent adaptations to a class of phytochemical defences. However, herbivore communities are typically composed of taxonomically diverse species with different feeding modes and life histories, and thus not all benefits and costs of adaptation are predicted to be the same. Using common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), which produces toxic cardenolides, we investigated convergence in insect performance and cardenolide sequestration in the native community of specialist beetles, caterpillars and bugs, feeding on roots, leaves and seeds, respectively. We found minimal correlations between defence of different plant parts, or in the performance of the insect species, suggesting organ-specific plant defence and distinct insect offence strategies. None of the three species was affected by ingesting cardenolides, despite known differences in counter-adaptations. Nonetheless, all species showed a cost of sequestration, which probably emerged from physiological limits. Although variable among species, our findings provide evidence that the evolutionary benefits of sequestration are accompanied by costs, revealing a general constraint among diverse species coevolving with a shared host plant.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
Cardenolide defence correlations between different plant parts of Asclepias syriaca are minimal.
- Taxon
- Asclepias syriaca
Asclepias syriacae0 - Organ / stage
- different plant partse1
- Outcome
- correlations between defence of different plant partse1
- Direction
- minimale1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Using common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), which produces toxic cardenolides”
e1“We found minimal correlations between defence of different plant parts, or in the performance of the insect species”
Claim · model-written summary
Correlations in the performance of the specialist insect species are minimal.
- Taxon
- Asclepias syriacaAsclepias syriacae0
- Interactor
- specialist beetles, caterpillars and bugse2herbivore
- Outcome
- performance of the insect speciese1
- Direction
- minimale1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Using common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), which produces toxic cardenolides”
e1“We found minimal correlations between defence of different plant parts, or in the performance of the insect species”
e2“in the native community of specialist beetles, caterpillars and bugs”
Claim · model-written summary
None of the three specialist insect species had its performance affected by ingesting cardenolides.
- Taxon
- Asclepias syriacaAsclepias syriacae0
- Treatment
- ingesting cardenolidese3
- Interactor
- specialist beetles, caterpillars and bugse2herbivore
- Outcome
- performancee1
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Using common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), which produces toxic cardenolides”
e1“We found minimal correlations between defence of different plant parts, or in the performance of the insect species”
e2“in the native community of specialist beetles, caterpillars and bugs”
e3“None of the three species was affected by ingesting cardenolides”
Claim · model-written summary
All three specialist insect species showed a cost of cardenolide sequestration.
- Taxon
- Asclepias syriacaAsclepias syriacae0
- Interactor
- specialist beetles, caterpillars and bugse2herbivore
- Outcome
- cost of sequestratione4
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Using common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), which produces toxic cardenolides”
e2“in the native community of specialist beetles, caterpillars and bugs”
e4“all species showed a cost of sequestration, which probably emerged from physiological limits”
Claim · model-written summary
The cost of sequestration is probably caused by physiological limits.
- Taxon
- Asclepias syriacaAsclepias syriacae0
- Outcome
- cost of sequestratione4
- Qualifier
- physiological limitse4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Using common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), which produces toxic cardenolides”
e4“all species showed a cost of sequestration, which probably emerged from physiological limits”