#herbivory — Public Fediverse posts

New publication: #Epigenomic response to #insect #herbivory in Lombardy #poplar: assessing geographic variation in #DNA #methylation changes.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-025-01727-4

【🎉Latest accepted article】
Soil conditions mediate cucumber-root (Medeola virginiana) plant responses to #White_tailedDeer #Herbivory

#SoilAcidification | #EcologicalIndicator | #Lime | #Herbicide | #SoilChemistry

https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaf225

Jinan Lu et al. explored #Silicon mediates geographic variation of herbivory-related traits in a widespread plant invader.

#BiologicalInvasion | #Herbivory | #LatitudinalVariation | #PlantDefenses | #InvasionEcology | #SpeciesInteraction

https://doi.org/10.1093/jpe/rtaf120

I love how delightfully diabolical evolution can be.

A new article in Annual Review of Entomology is about the plant pathogens that are vectored between plants by herbivorous insects. These plant pathogens invade plant tissues and make plants sick. To get between plants they hitch a ride inside plant-feeding insects. The healthier the insect the more plants it will feed on.

So, what do the microbes do? They manufacture chemicals that make their insect hosts stronger. Several ways that they do this have been discovered "from balancing a nutritionally deficient diet" to "upgrading its defensive biochemistry against natural enemies."

Wild!

"Plant Pathogens Moonlighting as Beneficial Insect Symbionts" by
Aileen Berasategui and Hassan Salem

https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-ento-121423-013411

#entomology #SpeciesInteractions #mutualism #ecology #PlantPathogens #Herbivory #insects

I love how delightfully diabolical evolution can be.

A new article in Annual Review of Entomology is about the plant pathogens that are vectored between plants by herbivorous insects. These plant pathogens invade plant tissues and make plants sick. To get between plants they hitch a ride inside plant-feeding insects. The healthier the insect the more plants it will feed on.

So, what do the microbes do? They manufacture chemicals that make their insect hosts stronger. Several ways that they do this have been discovered "from balancing a nutritionally deficient diet" to "upgrading its defensive biochemistry against natural enemies."

Wild!

"Plant Pathogens Moonlighting as Beneficial Insect Symbionts" by
Aileen Berasategui and Hassan Salem

https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-ento-121423-013411

#entomology #SpeciesInteractions #mutualism #ecology #PlantPathogens #Herbivory #insects

Watch out: the weather is warming and the American ragwort aphids are *multiplying*.

American ragwort aphids specialise on Senecio plants, of which NZ has many species, including some threatened endemic species.

The aphid arrived in NZ (somehow) in 2023, and has since got to work munching on our plants. The American aphids are also now being tended and protected by exotic Australian ants.

In the South Island these aphids are still restricted to Christchurch city (at least based on observations on #iNaturalist and #GBIF).

It would be great if you could keep a look out for them in other places. They're the only big black aphid in NZ (black bodies and legs).

Here are three of my observations of them from this month.

#aphids #PlantInsectInteractions #herbivory #BiologicalInvasions #NZ #Christchurch #iNaturalistNZ #insects #entomology

https://inaturalist.nz/taxa/453265-Aphis-lugentis

Watch out: the weather is warming and the American ragwort aphids are *multiplying*.

American ragwort aphids specialise on Senecio plants, of which NZ has many species, including some threatened endemic species.

The aphid arrived in NZ (somehow) in 2023, and has since got to work munching on our plants. The American aphids are also now being tended and protected by exotic Australian ants.

In the South Island these aphids are still restricted to Christchurch city (at least based on observations on #iNaturalist and #GBIF).

It would be great if you could keep a look out for them in other places. They're the only big black aphid in NZ (black bodies and legs).

Here are three of my observations of them from this month.

#aphids #PlantInsectInteractions #herbivory #BiologicalInvasions #NZ #Christchurch #iNaturalistNZ #insects #entomology

https://inaturalist.nz/taxa/453265-Aphis-lugentis

The kōwhai trees are in fabulous full bloom across Ōtautahi-Christchurch city, NZ. They're blooming about a month late this year and are making up for that with a huge number of flowers.

That's making the korimako and kererū in the Cashmere hills happy. The korimako are pollinating the kōwhai flowers, which I guess also makes the kōwhai happy, to the extent that a kōwhai tree can be happy. The kererū, on the other hand, are eating the kowhai's flowers and young leaves.

korimako: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/315198237
kererū: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/315196715

#NZ #nature #Christchurch #Ōtautahi #birds #pollination #herbivory #Anthornis #Hemiphaga #kererū #korimako

The kōwhai trees are in fabulous full bloom across Ōtautahi-Christchurch city, NZ. They're blooming about a month late this year and are making up for that with a huge number of flowers.

That's making the korimako and kererū in the Cashmere hills happy. The korimako are pollinating the kōwhai flowers, which I guess also makes the kōwhai happy, to the extent that a kōwhai tree can be happy. The kererū, on the other hand, are eating the kowhai's flowers and young leaves.

korimako: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/315198237
kererū: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/315196715

#NZ #nature #Christchurch #Ōtautahi #birds #pollination #herbivory #Anthornis #Hemiphaga #kererū #korimako

Yellow Sand Verbena (Abronia latifolia) has some unique adaptations: it relies on salt water to survive and uses psammophory—coating itself with sand—to deter herbivores.

#herbivory #saltwater #plants #wildflowers #nature #wildlife #california

Gumplants (Grindelia species) produce a sticky resin that may help deter grazing insects and protect flower buds from intense sunlight.

#resins #herbivory #sunscreen #plants #wildflowers #nature #wildlife #california

New publication: #Forb diversity globally is harmed by nutrient enrichment but can be rescued by large mammalian #herbivory. #biodiversity #grasslandecology #wildflowers
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07882-7

🚨Threat detected!🚨
Combining #molecular and #chemical analyses, #bioactivity tests and #insect performance bioassays, Chen et al. report on elicitors in the frass of striped stem borer (SSB) #larvae. https://doi.org/10.1111/jipb.13852
@wileyplantsci
#PlantSci #JIPB #herbivory #CropSci #botany

#JIPB paper, Song et al. tease out the complex mechanisms behind #jasmonate-regulated #floral defense in #Arabidopsis!
https://doi.org/10.1111/jipb.13818
@wileyplantsci
#PlantSci #herbivory #pathology #botany

There's a tiny native mite in NZ, about 1/10 mm long, called Eriophyes totarae, that only feeds on the buds of male tōtara trees.

I learned about them this month when Rene, a PhD student at #LincolnUniversityNZ studying tōtara seed and seedling ecology, asked me what the aborted buds were on a tōtara branch. We looked it up and learned of these tiny mites.

I've since found some in Ōtautahi-Christchurch city.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/254689722

#entomology #nz #mites #PlantInsectInteractions #herbivory

There's a tiny native mite in NZ, about 1/10 mm long, called Eriophyes totarae, that only feeds on the buds of male tōtara trees.

I learned about them this month when Rene, a PhD student at #LincolnUniversityNZ studying tōtara seed and seedling ecology, asked me what the aborted buds were on a tōtara branch. We looked it up and learned of these tiny mites.

I've since found some in Ōtautahi-Christchurch city.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/254689722

#entomology #nz #mites #PlantInsectInteractions #herbivory

Now ahead of print for Amarasekare's VP Symposium: "Interactive Effects of Temperature, Aridity, and Plant Stoichiometry on Insect Herbivory: Past and Present" by Swain et al. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/731995

#temperature #aridity #plant #insect #herbivory #stoichiometry

Now ahead of print for Amarasekare's VP Symposium: "Interactive Effects of Temperature, Aridity, and Plant Stoichiometry on Insect Herbivory: Past and Present" by Swain et al. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/731995

#temperature #aridity #plant #insect #herbivory #stoichiometry

The legacy of the extinct #megafauna (sensus https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27749-9) in the Colombian Dry Forest: Ceiba, Zanthoxylum, a palm.

#Evolutionary_anachronism
#anachronism #herbivory #spines #plant_defenses @ecology @plants @botany @plantscience @nature @biodiversity @conservation @evolution

The legacy of the extinct #megafauna (sensus https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27749-9) in the Colombian Dry Forest: Ceiba, Zanthoxylum, a palm.

#Evolutionary_anachronism
#anachronism #herbivory #spines #plant_defenses @ecology @plants @botany @plantscience @nature @biodiversity @conservation @evolution

Meet the Xylopodium: The Ultimate Fire Buddy
https://plantlifebelowground.wordpress.com/2024/06/06/meet-the-xylopodium-the-ultimate-fire-buddy/ paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12224-023-09437-2

"In #savanna systems, which are seasonal and fire-prone environments, survival hinge on adaptations to cope with fire, #drought, and #herbivory. Thus, many #plants have dug their way belowground to safeguard themselves... By burying their buds within the #xylopodium, plants can resprout after fires, store essential carbohydrates for energy, and secure water reserves"

Meet the Xylopodium: The Ultimate Fire Buddy
https://plantlifebelowground.wordpress.com/2024/06/06/meet-the-xylopodium-the-ultimate-fire-buddy/ paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12224-023-09437-2

"In #savanna systems, which are seasonal and fire-prone environments, survival hinge on adaptations to cope with fire, #drought, and #herbivory. Thus, many #plants have dug their way belowground to safeguard themselves... By burying their buds within the #xylopodium, plants can resprout after fires, store essential carbohydrates for energy, and secure water reserves"

New Aetosaur Species Unearthed in Texas https://www.sci.news/paleontology/garzapelta-muelleri-12617.html

#Garzapelta muelleri gen. et sp. nov., a new #aetosaur (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) from the Late #Triassic... and its implications on our understanding of the morphological disparity of the aetosaurian dorsal carapace https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.25379

"#Aetosauria is a group of quadrupedal, armored #reptiles whose terrestrial #ecology is inferred as including both #herbivory and #omnivory"

New Aetosaur Species Unearthed in Texas https://www.sci.news/paleontology/garzapelta-muelleri-12617.html

#Garzapelta muelleri gen. et sp. nov., a new #aetosaur (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia) from the Late #Triassic... and its implications on our understanding of the morphological disparity of the aetosaurian dorsal carapace https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.25379

"#Aetosauria is a group of quadrupedal, armored #reptiles whose terrestrial #ecology is inferred as including both #herbivory and #omnivory"

Here's a head scratcher. I have this unidentified beetle that seems to closely resemble some Vexing Rove Beetles (Atheta sp.)

It really looks to me to be eating this leaf. There was a similar track in the same leaf with two of them in it. I couldn't get my camera in close enough to get pictures though. The problem is, I have never heard of rove beetles being herbivores. What gives? Are they eating mold?

#Insects #Beetles #Entomology #Colombia #Arthropods #Herbivory #InsectInteraction

Here's a head scratcher. I have this unidentified beetle that seems to closely resemble some Vexing Rove Beetles (Atheta sp.)

It really looks to me to be eating this leaf. There was a similar track in the same leaf with two of them in it. I couldn't get my camera in close enough to get pictures though. The problem is, I have never heard of rove beetles being herbivores. What gives? Are they eating mold?

#Insects #Beetles #Entomology #Colombia #Arthropods #Herbivory #InsectInteraction

Spotted this VERY early (< 0.5cm) monarch #butterfly #caterpillar and the evidence of its feeding on a weedy milkweed by my building's loading dock

#naturalist #herbivory

Spotted this VERY early (< 0.5cm) monarch #butterfly #caterpillar and the evidence of its feeding on a weedy milkweed by my building's loading dock

#naturalist #herbivory

Paper alert: "Multiple dimensions of #biodiversity mediate effects of temperature on invertebrate #herbivory in a montane #grassland" in #Oikos
🐛 🦗🌱 🌿 🌡️

Led by @fh, with @annaliisalaine

We used vegetation and herbivory data along an elevational gradient from our #CalandaBiodiversityExploratories to study how temperature driven changes in the #plant #community affect herbivory risks.

https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.10028

New NIOO publication: Integrating chemical plant trait- and ecological-based approaches to better understand differences in #insect #herbivory between #cultivated and #natural systems. #communityecology #plantdomestication
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2023.108643#spatialecology

@Carl_Zimmer some individual plants in populations seem more susceptible to galling, but I don't think anyone knows exactly why. This is true of #herbivory in general and not just #galls. The folks involved in the Herbivory Variability Network (https://herbvar.org) might have a better answer though.

Excellent review of large herbivore impacts.

#SavannaScience
#Herbivory

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)00472-4

I think I've figured out what has been nibbling the arugula. #gardening #herbivory #deer #WhiteTailedDeer #odocoileus #arugula #salad

I think I've figured out what has been nibbling the arugula. #gardening #herbivory #deer #WhiteTailedDeer #odocoileus #arugula #salad

Erdos et al. Biol. Rev. (2022): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12889

A nice review on the drivers shaping the huge #Eurasian #forest-steppe by Erdos et al., emphasizing #Alternative #Biome States & #feedbacks (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2019.11.003, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.03.008)

How come I haven't seen it before?!

#ABS #steppe #forests #grasslands #fire #herbivory @ecology @plants @botany @wildfirescience @plantscience #BiologicalReviews

Erdos et al. Biol. Rev. (2022): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12889

A nice review on the drivers shaping the huge #Eurasian #forest-steppe by Erdos et al., emphasizing #Alternative #Biome States & #feedbacks (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2019.11.003, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.03.008)

How come I haven't seen it before?!

#ABS #steppe #forests #grasslands #fire #herbivory @ecology @plants @botany @wildfirescience @plantscience #BiologicalReviews

@PetraOleum Caterpillar for the win!

I just popped out and had a look. Hungry caterpillar has no time for games. Hungry caterpillar eats right across it's old mine and keeps on feeding.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/159365832

#caterpillar #herbivory #nz #Aotearoa #LeafMine #insects

@PetraOleum Caterpillar for the win!

I just popped out and had a look. Hungry caterpillar has no time for games. Hungry caterpillar eats right across it's old mine and keeps on feeding.

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/159365832

#caterpillar #herbivory #nz #Aotearoa #LeafMine #insects

Here's a little caterpillar of the NZ endemic moth species, Zapyrastra calliphana, mining it's way through a leaf of the NZ native plant, Muehlenbeckia australis.

This native caterpillar only eats this kind of native plant. Each caterpillar completes its larval life inside just one leaf, before dropping to the ground to pupate.

I found this in my garden on Friday as part of the City Nature Challenge (#CNC2023).

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/159316091

#caterpillar #moth #Aotearoa #NZ #herbivory

Here's a little caterpillar of the NZ endemic moth species, Zapyrastra calliphana, mining it's way through a leaf of the NZ native plant, Muehlenbeckia australis.

This native caterpillar only eats this kind of native plant. Each caterpillar completes its larval life inside just one leaf, before dropping to the ground to pupate.

I found this in my garden on Friday as part of the City Nature Challenge (#CNC2023).

https://inaturalist.nz/observations/159316091

#caterpillar #moth #Aotearoa #NZ #herbivory

Taking a bite out of your Thursday!
Ma et al. explore the role of ZmMYC2 in #JA signaling during #maize defense responses to #herbivory.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jipb.13404
@wileyplantsci
#JIPB #phytopathology #ZmMYC2 #PlantScience #CropScience #agriculture #armyworm #spodoptera

Scientists Discover One of the Earliest Mammal Ancestors That Ate Its Veggies: The new finding pushes the first signs of tetrapod #herbivory back millions of years https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-of-natural-history/2023/04/05/smithsonian-scientists-discover-one-of-the-earliest-mammal-ancestors-that-ate-its-veggies/

A new #Carboniferous #edaphosaurid and the origin of herbivory in #mammal forerunners https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-30626-8

#Melanedaphodon’s teeth, which end in bulbous points, are unique. But they do possess some similarities to the chompers of #Edaphosaurus and living #lizards that eat plants as part of their diets.

Scientists Discover One of the Earliest Mammal Ancestors That Ate Its Veggies: The new finding pushes the first signs of tetrapod #herbivory back millions of years https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-of-natural-history/2023/04/05/smithsonian-scientists-discover-one-of-the-earliest-mammal-ancestors-that-ate-its-veggies/

A new #Carboniferous #edaphosaurid and the origin of herbivory in #mammal forerunners https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-30626-8

#Melanedaphodon’s teeth, which end in bulbous points, are unique. But they do possess some similarities to the chompers of #Edaphosaurus and living #lizards that eat plants as part of their diets.

Title is "More than what they eat: uncoupled biophysical constraints underlie geographic patterns of herbivory" with coauthors Jason Fridley and @VVandvik

Also, favorite part of this article was the Cate le Bon quote I got away with including.

#herbivory #plants #interactions #biogeography #macroecology

#NewPaper #Paleontology #Dinosaurs #Herbivory #Biomechanics

David J. Button, Laura B. Porro, Stephan Lautenschlager, Marc E.H. Jones & Paul M. Barrett (2023)
Multiple pathways to herbivory underpinned deep divergences in ornithischian evolution
Current Biology 33: 1–9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.01
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)01919-4

In 2022, I added flax notcher and scraper moth damage to the species I map along my standard runs through Ōtautahi-Christchurch. The caterpillars make distinctive damage on flax leaves (as I first learned in high school). In hindsight, this was crazy to try to map while running, but the results are fascinating! Flax cultivars are now widely planted in gardens, but almost all of the herbivory is on the old flax up in the hills.
#EcologicalMonitoring #WildCounts #Phormium #AotearoaNZ #Herbivory

@Br3nda That's karo (*Pittosporum crassifolium*), not pohutukawa, and it's being fed on by pittosporum psyllids, an endemic native insect.

#iNaturalistNZ is your friend for questions like this. Post photos (and sounds) with the free #iNaturalist app and a community of experts and enthusiasts across Aotearoa will tell you what you've found. Plus, all the data is open so builds on our knowledge of NZ nature. (Disclaimer: I'm an iNatNZ site admin.)

#insect #herbivory

https://inaturalist.nz/taxa/1230802-Powellia-vitreoradiata