Insect herbivory stimulates allelopathic exudation by an invasive plant and the suppression of natives

  1. Giles C. Thelen1,
  2. Jorge M. Vivanco2,
  3. Beth Newingham3,
  4. William Good4,
  5. Harsh P. Bais2,
  6. Peter Landres5,
  7. Anthony Caesar6,
  8. Ragan M. Callaway1,*

Article first published online: 13 JAN 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00713.x

Issue

Ecology Letters

Ecology Letters

Volume 8, Issue 2, pages 209–217, February 2005

Additional Information

How to Cite

Thelen, G. C., Vivanco, J. M., Newingham, B., Good, W., Bais, H. P., Landres, P., Caesar, A. and Callaway, R. M. (2005), Insect herbivory stimulates allelopathic exudation by an invasive plant and the suppression of natives. Ecology Letters, 8: 209–217. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2004.00713.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Division of Biological Sciences, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA

  2. 2

    Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1173, USA

  3. 3

    Department of Biological Sciences, 4505 Maryland Parkway, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA

  4. 4

    Department of Biology, Montana Tech of the University of Montana, Butte, MT 59701, USA

  5. 5

    Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, PO Box 8089, Missoula, MT 59807, USA

  6. 6

    USDA-ARS-Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory, Sidney, MT 59270, USA

*E-mail: ray.callaway@mso.umt.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 13 JAN 2005
  2. Article first published online: 13 JAN 2005
  3. Editor, Ted Turlings Manuscript received 14 September 2004 First decision made 19 October 2004 Manuscript accepted 10 November 2004

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Keywords:

  • Allelopathy;
  • biocontrol insects;
  • exotic invasion;
  • herbivory;
  • noxious weed;
  • phytotoxic exudates;
  • root exudates;
  • spotted knapweed

Abstract

Exotic invasive plants are often subjected to attack from imported insects as a method of biological control. A fundamental, but rarely explicitly tested, assumption of biological control is that damaged plants are less fit and compete poorly. In contrast, we find that one of the most destructive invasive plants in North America, Centaurea maculosa, exudes far higher amounts of (±)-catechin, an allelopathic chemical known to have deleterious effects on native plants, when attacked by larvae of two different root boring biocontrol insects and a parasitic fungus. We also demonstrate that C. maculosa plants experimentally attacked by one of these biocontrols exhibit more intense negative effects on natives.

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