Can herbivores sharing the same host plant be mutualists?

Qingsong Liu; Ted C J Turlings; Yunhe Li

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2023.01.018

Can herbivores sharing the same host plant be mutualists?

Trends Ecol Evol. 2023 Jun;38(6):509-511. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.01.018. Epub 2023 Feb 28.

Authors

Qingsong Liu¹, Ted C J Turlings², Yunhe Li³

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, School of Life Sciences and College of Agriculture, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China.
² Laboratory of Fundamental and Applied Research in Chemical Ecology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel 2000, Switzerland.
³ State Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization, School of Life Sciences and College of Agriculture, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China; State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China. Electronic address: yunheli@henu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36863968
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.01.018

Abstract

Resource partitioning is considered to be a prerequisite for coexisting species to evolve from competition to mutualism. This is uniquely different for two major pest insects of rice. These herbivores preferentially opt to coinfest the same host plants, and through plant-mediated mechanisms, cooperatively utilize these plants in a mutualistic manner.

Keywords: coexistence; cooperation; mutualism; niche differentiation; nutritional niche.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Herbivory*
Plants
Symbiosis*