Plant tolerance and resistance in food webs: community-level predictions and evolutionary implications

Chase, JM Leibold, MA Simms, E

Jm. Chase et al., Plant tolerance and resistance in food webs: community-level predictions and evolutionary implications, EVOL ECOL, 14(4-6), 2000, pp. 289-314

80

INGLESE

Article

Environment/Ecology

EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY

0269-7653 → ACNP

14

4-6

2000

289 - 314

ISI

0269-7653(2000)14:4-6<289:PTARIF>2.0.ZU;2-Y

While evolutionary ecologists emphasize different ways in which plants can evolutionarily respond to herbivory, such as resistance or tolerance, commu nity ecology has lagged in its understanding of how these different plant t raits can influence interactions, abundance, composition, and diversity wit hin more complex food webs. In this paper, we present a series of models co mparing community level outcomes when plants either resist or tolerate herb ivory. We show that resistance and tolerance can lead to very different out comes. A particularly important result is that resistant species should oft en coexist locally with other, less resistant competitors, whereas tolerant species should not be able to coexist locally with less tolerant competito rs, although priority effects allow them to coexist regionally. We also use these models to suggest some insights into the evolution of these traits w ithin more complex communities. We emphasize how understanding the differen tial effects of plant tolerance and resistance in food webs provides greate r appreciation of a variety of empirical patterns that heretofore have appe ared enigmatic.