Dissertation Research: A Field-Test of Damage-induced       Alkaloidal Defenses in Wild Tobacco
{'Code': '08010208', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'DEB', 'LongName': 'Division Of Environmental Biology'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Althea Ball', 'PO_EMAI': 'aball@nsf.gov', 'PO_PHON': '7032920000'}
Herbivore-induced defense in plants is well documented, but                field evidence that these induced changes protect plants is                     lacking.  The damage-induced increases in leaf alkaloid content                 in wild tobacco will be studied.  Currently enough mechanistic                  information on the workings of this induced defense system to                   propose a field test of its ecological significance is available.               With a previously tested experimental design that involves                      artificially damaging two groups of wild Nicotiana repanda plants               growing in south-Texas, hormonally supressing the alkaloidal                    respose in one group, measuring the amount of natural herbivory                 sustained by induced and suppressed plants and their respective                 alkaloid coantents, the following three questions will be                       addressed:  1) are these damage-induced alkaloid levels                         functioning as an antiherbivore defense?  2) is this induced-                   defense costly in terms of reproductive output? and 3) is there                 variation in herbivory between different populations of wild                    tobacco, and is this variation correlated with variation in the                 benefit (reduced herbivory) and cost (reproductive costs) of this               induced defense?  This project is one of the few field studies of               induced plant resistance which simultaneously measures both leaf                chemistry and herbivore performance.  Moreover, it is the first                 time the efficacy of an induced defense has been studied by                     inhibiting the defense in damaged plants, and the first project                 to measure the reproductive cost of defense.
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{'Code': '1128', 'Text': 'Population & Community Ecology'}
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