Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1987 Feb;71(3):436-438.
doi: 10.1007/BF00378718.

Increased thorn length in Acacia depranolobium -an induced response to browsing

T P Young  1
Affiliations

Increased thorn length in Acacia depranolobium -an induced response to browsing

T P Young. Oecologia. 1987 Feb.

Abstract

I report here longer thorns induced by large mammal herbivory on the tree Acacia depranolobium. I compared trees that had been browsed by domestic goats to trees protected from goat browsing. Thorns on browsed branches within the reach of goats (<125 cm above the ground) were significantly longer than thorns from higher branches on the same browsed trees, and significantly longer than branches at similar heights on unbrowsed trees. It appears that increased thorn length was an induced response to large mammal herbivory in Acacia depranolobium, both among and within individual trees.

Keywords: Herbivory; Induced defense.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Oecologia. 1983 Sep;59(2-3):226-231 - PubMed
    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Feb;80(3):790-1 - PubMed
    1. Oecologia. 1986 Sep;68(3):446-455 - PubMed
    1. Science. 1984 Jul 6;225(4657):53-4 - PubMed
    1. Science. 1982 Jul 9;217(4555):149-51 - PubMed