Leaf herbivory and calcium oxalate crystal production in Prunus avium
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Leaf herbivory and calcium oxalate crystal production in Prunus avium María L. Peschiutta1,2 · Sandra J. Bucci1,3 · Guillermo Goldstein4,5,6 · Fabián G. Scholz1,3 Received: 29 June 2020 / Accepted: 11 September 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Plants require mechanisms of defense to limit the amount of damage by herbivores. Calcium oxalate crystals (COC) in the leaves can serve as inducible defenses against chewing insects, such as Caliroa cerasi larvae. We studied the relationship between leaf COC from Prunus avium and herbivory by C. cerasi larvae, to assess the defensive role of inducible responses. We examined from cafeteria choice experiments the C. cerasi larvae preference towards P. avium cultivars (Bing, Lapins and Van) and larvae preference towards leaves from infested and non-infested trees. The number of damaged leaves per meter of branch and the total non-damaged area and the area removed by the insects was evaluated in the field. We also determined the presence, location, size, and number of crystals in leaves from all studied cultivars. Van and Lapins cultivars were the most preferred by C. cerasi and exhibited a greater number of COC in their leaves, possibly due to being more eaten by the insect. This increase in COC possibly contributes to protect the leaf vein from chewing larvae, maintaining this portion of the vascular transport functionality. Potential manipulations of this induced response could be used in the future as a tool for the pest management against herbivore insects. Keywords Calcium oxalate crystals · Caliroa cerasi · Plant defense · Prunus avium · Sweet cherry
Introduction Inducible responses to herbivory are direct and indirect defenses that vary in plants following injury or stress and finally tend to reduce the performance and/or preference of herbivores (Aljbory and Chen 2018; Chen 2008; War et al. 2012). The amount of secondary metabolites and physical * María L. Peschiutta [email protected] 1
Grupo de Estudios Biofísicos y Ecofisiológicos (GEBEF), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Ciencias de La Salud, Universidad Nacional de La Patagonia San Juan Bosco (UNPSJB), 9000 Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina
2
Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal, IMBIV- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Avenida Vélez Sarsfield 1611, Córdoba, Argentina
3
Instituto de Biociencias de La Patagonia (INBIOP), CONICET-UNPSJB, 9000 Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina
4
Laboratorio de Ecología Funcional (LEF), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
5
Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. UBA-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
6
University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
defenses of the damaged plant tissue may increase and/or its nutritional quality may decrease because of herbivore attack (Chen 2008; War et al. 2012). Once this type of defense occurs, inducible responses are assumed to have a defensive function due to their heavy effect on herbivore performance (e.g
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