Are All Forms of Defence Lost on Islands? Persistence of a Defensive Mutualism in Six Island Colonists from New Zealand

Overview

Journal Biol Lett

Specialty Biology

Date 2023 Apr 19

PMID 37073525

Authors

M Biddick

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The loss of defence hypothesis posits that island colonizers experience a release from predation on the mainland and subsequently lose their defensive adaptations. However, while support for the hypothesis from direct defensive traits is abundant, far less is known about indirect defensive traits. Leaf domatia are cave-like structures produced on the underside of leaves that facilitate an indirect defensive interaction with predaceous and microbivorous mites. I tested the loss of defence hypothesis in six domatia-bearing taxa inhabiting New Zealand and its offshore islands. No support for the loss of defence hypothesis was found. Changes in domatia investment were instead associated with changes in leaf size-a trait that has been repeatedly observed to undergo rapid evolution on islands. Overall results suggest that not all types of defence are lost on islands.

Citing Articles

Are all forms of defence lost on islands? Persistence of a defensive mutualism in six island colonists from New Zealand.

Biddick M Biol Lett. 2023; 19(4):20220425.

PMID: 37073525 PMC: 10114016. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0425.

References

Biddick M . Are all forms of defence lost on islands? Persistence of a defensive mutualism in six island colonists from New Zealand. Biol Lett. 2023; 19(4):20220425. PMC: 10114016. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0425. View

Emerson B . Evolution on oceanic islands: molecular phylogenetic approaches to understanding pattern and process. Mol Ecol. 2002; 11(6):951-66. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-294x.2002.01507.x. View

Cooper S, Ginnett T . Spines protect plants against browsing by small climbing mammals. Oecologia. 2017; 113(2):219-221. DOI: 10.1007/s004420050371. View

Hooft van Huysduynen A, Janssens S, Merckx V, Vos R, Valente L, Zizka A . Temporal and palaeoclimatic context of the evolution of insular woodiness in the Canary Islands. Ecol Evol. 2021; 11(17):12220-12231. PMC: 8427628. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7986. View

Baeckens S, Van Damme R . The island syndrome. Curr Biol. 2020; 30(8):R338-R339. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.03.029. View

Monroy P, Garcia-Verdugo C . Testing the hypothesis of loss of defenses on islands across a wide latitudinal gradient of Periploca laevigata populations. Am J Bot. 2019; 106(2):303-312. DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1232. View

Blackburn T, Cassey P, P Duncan R, Evans K, Gaston K . Avian extinction and mammalian introductions on oceanic islands. Science. 2004; 305(5692):1955-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.1101617. View

Grostal R, ODowd D . Plants, mites and mutualism: leaf domatia and the abundance and reproduction of mites on Viburnum tinus (Caprifoliaceae). Oecologia. 2017; 97(3):308-315. DOI: 10.1007/BF00317319. View

Cooper S, Owen-Smith N . Effects of plant spinescence on large mammalian herbivores. Oecologia. 2017; 68(3):446-455. DOI: 10.1007/BF01036753. View

10.

Biddick M, Hendriks A, Burns K . Plants obey (and disobey) the island rule. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019; 116(36):17632-17634. PMC: 6731657. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1907424116. View

11.

Pearse I, LoPresti E, Schaeffer R, Wetzel W, Mooney K, Ali J . Generalising indirect defence and resistance of plants. Ecol Lett. 2020; 23(7):1137-1152. DOI: 10.1111/ele.13512. View

12.

Heil M . Indirect defence via tritrophic interactions. New Phytol. 2007; 178(1):41-61. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02330.x. View

13.

Welch J . Testing the island rule: primates as a case study. Proc Biol Sci. 2008; 276(1657):675-82. PMC: 2660931. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.1180. View

14.

Cooper Jr W, Pyron R, Garland Jr T . Island tameness: living on islands reduces flight initiation distance. Proc Biol Sci. 2014; 281(1777):20133019. PMC: 3896029. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.3019. View

15.

Zizka A, Onstein R, Rozzi R, Weigelt P, Kreft H, Steinbauer M . The evolution of insular woodiness. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022; 119(37):e2208629119. PMC: 9478640. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2208629119. View

16.

Vourch G, Martin J, Duncan P, Escarre J, Clausen T . Defensive adaptations of Thuja plicata to ungulate browsing: a comparative study between mainland and island populations. Oecologia. 2017; 126(1):84-93. DOI: 10.1007/s004420000491. View