Plant insecticidal toxins in ecological networks

Abstract

Plant secondary metabolites play a key role in plant-insect interactions, whether constitutive or induced, C- or N-based. Anti-herbivore defences against insects can act as repellents, deterrents, growth inhibitors or cause direct mortality. In turn, insects have evolved a variety of strategies to act against plant toxins, e.g., avoidance, excretion, sequestration and degradation of the toxin, eventually leading to a co-evolutionary arms race between insects and plants and to co-diversification. Anti-herbivore defences also negatively impact mutualistic partners, possibly leading to an ecological cost of toxin production. However, in other cases toxins can also be used by plants involved in mutualistic interactions to exclude inadequate partners and to modify the cost/benefit ratio of mutualism to their advantage. When considering the whole community, toxins have an effect at many trophic levels. Aposematic insects sequester toxins to defend themselves against predators. Depending on the ecological context, toxins can either increase insects' vulnerability to parasitoids and entomopathogens or protect them, eventually leading to self-medication. We conclude that studying the community-level impacts of plant toxins can provide new insights into the synthesis between community and evolutionary ecology.

Keywords: antagonism; coevolution; evolutionary arms race; inter-guild interactions; multitrophic interactions; mutualism; pollination; predators; repellent; secondary metabolism; symbionts; toxic nectar.

Figure 1

Schematic representation of the possible roles of plant insecticidal toxins in ecological networks. Arrow size represents the probable strength of the effect and the double-headed arrows indicate where co-evolution is expected. Positive and negative effects of plant toxins on higher trophic levels are indicated by + or − signs.