Defensive (anti-herbivory) coloration in land plants : anti-herbivory plant coloration and morphology

This book presents visual plant defenses (camouflage, mimicry and aposematism via coloration, morphology and even movement) against herbivores. It is mainly an ideological monograph, a manifesto representing my current understanding on defensive plant coloration and related issues. The book is not the final word in anything, but rather the beginning of many things. It aims to establish visual anti-herbivory defense as an integral organ of botany, or plant science as it is commonly called today. I think that like in animals, many types of plant coloration can be explained by selection associated with the sensory/cognitive systems of herbivores and predators to reduce herbivory. It is intended to intrigue and stimulate students of botany/plant science and plant/animal interactions for a very long time. This book is tailored to a readership of biologists and naturalists of all kinds and levels, and more specifically for botanists, ecologists, evolutionists and to those interested in plant/animal interactions. It is written from the point of view of a naturalist, ecologist and evolutionary biologist that I hold, considering natural selection as the main although not the only drive for evolution. According to this perspective, factors such as chance, founder effects, genetic drift and various stochastic processes that may and do influence characters found in specific genotypes, are not comparable in their power and influence to the common outcomes of natural selection, especially manifested when very many species belonging to different plant families, with very different and separate evolutionary histories, arrive at the same adaptation, something that characterizes many of the visual patterns and proposed adaptations described and discussed in this book. Many of the discussed visual defensive mechanisms are aimed at operating before the plants are damaged, i.e., to be their first line of defense. In this respect, I think that the name of the book by Ruxton et al. (2004) "Avoiding Attack" is an excellent phrase for the assembly of the best types of defensive tactics. While discussing anti-herbivory, I do remember, study and teach physiological/developmental aspects of some of the discussed coloration patterns, and I am fully aware of the simultaneous and diverse functions of many plant characters in addition to defense. Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction....Pages 3-6 Plants Are Not Sitting Ducks Waiting for Herbivores to Eat Them....Pages 7-8 The Many Defensive Mechanisms of Plants....Pages 9-10 No Defense Is Perfect and Defense Is Always Relative....Pages 11-11 Operating Under Stress and Fear in the Military as a Lesson Concerning Difficulties for Herbivory in Nature. Factors That Lower the Need for Perfect Defensive Mechanisms Including Mimicry....Pages 13-14 Evaluating Risk: The Problematic and Even Erroneous Common View of “No Damage or No Attack Equals No Risk”....Pages 15-16 Partial Descriptions of Color Patterns in Floras and Handbooks Has Consequences on the Study of Plant Coloration Biology....Pages 17-18 Animal Color Vision....Pages 19-20 The Nature of Signals....Pages 21-22 White as a Visual Signal....Pages 23-23 Visual Signaling by Plants to Animals via Color....Pages 25-26 Müllerian and Batesian Mimics Are Extended Phenotypes....Pages 27-28 Front Matter....Pages 29-29 Camouflage....Pages 31-39 Seed Camouflage....Pages 41-49 Defensive Functions of White Coloration in Coastal and Dune Plants....Pages 51-58 Gloger’s Rule in Plants: The Species and Ecosystem Levels....Pages 59-64 Defensive Masquerade by Plants....Pages 65-67 Potential Defense From Herbivory by Dazzle Effects and Trickery Coloration of Variegated Leaves....Pages 69-75 Plants Undermine Herbirorous Insect Camouflage....Pages 77-85 Front Matter....Pages 87-97 Delayed Greening....Pages 29-29 Red/Purple Leaf Margin Coloration: Potential Defensive Functions....Pages 99-99 Front Matter....Pages 101-105 Aposematism....Pages 107-107 Olfactory Aposematism....Pages 109-111 The Anecdotal History of Discussing Plant Aposematic Coloration....Pages 113-114 Aposematic Coloration in Thorny, Spiny and Prickly Plants....Pages 115-118 Fearful Symmetry in Aposematic Spiny Plants....Pages 119-134 Color Changes in Old Aposematic Thorns, Spines, and Prickles....Pages 135-137 Pathogenic Bacteria and Fungi on Thorns, Spines and Prickles....Pages 139-148 Aposematism in Plants with Silica Needles and Raphids Made of Calcium Oxalate....Pages 149-151 Müllerian and Batesian Mimicry Rings of Aposematic Thorny, Spiny and Toxic Plants....Pages 153-154 Batesian Mimicry and Automimicry of Aposematic Thorns, Spines and Prickles....Pages 155-164 Additional Cases of Defensive Visual Batesian Mimicry Among Plants....Pages 165-171 When May Green Plants Be Aposematic?....Pages 173-174 Spiny East Mediterranean Plant Species Flower Later and in a Drier Season Than Non-spiny Species....Pages 175-178 Biochemical Evidence of Convergent Evolution of Aposematic Coloration in Thorny, Spiny and Prickly Plants....Pages 179-182 Aposematic Coloration in Poisonous Flowers, Fruits and Seeds....Pages 183-183 Aposematic Trichomes: Probably an Overlooked Common Phenomenon....Pages 185-195 Why is Latex Usually White and Only Sometimes Yellow, Orange or Red? Simultaneous Visual and Chemical Plant Defense....Pages 197-198 Visual Defenses Basically Operating by Various Mechanisms That Have an Aposematic Component....Pages 199-202 Front Matter....Pages 203-204 Plant Aposematism Involving Fungi....Pages 107-107 Do Plants Use Visual and Olfactory Carrion-Based Aposematism to Deter Herbivores?....Pages 205-207 Gall Aposematism....Pages 209-211 Experimental Evidence for Plant Aposematism....Pages 213-223 Front Matter....Pages 225-226 The Complicated Enigma of Red and Yellow Autumn Leaves....Pages 227-227 Leaf Color Variability....Pages 229-235 What Do Red and Yellow Autumn Leaves Signal for Sure?....Pages 237-238 The Second Generation of Hypotheses About Colorful Autumn Leaves....Pages 239-239 The Shared and Separate Roles of Aposematic (Warning) Coloration and the Co-evolution Hypothesis in Defending Autumn Leaves....Pages 241-254 Spring Versus Autumn or Young Versus Old Leaf Colors: Evidence for Different Selective Agents and Evolution in Various Species and Floras....Pages 255-257 How Red Is the Red Autumn Leaf Herring and Did It Lose Its Red Color?....Pages 259-266 Defensive Animal and Animal Action Mimicry by Plants....Pages 267-269 Caterpillar and Other Herbivore Feeding Damage Mimicry as Defense....Pages 271-272 Tunneling Damage Mimicry....Pages 273-275 Butterfly Egg Mimicry....Pages 277-278 Caterpillar Mimicry....Pages 279-280 Aphid Mimicry....Pages 281-294 Ant Mimicry....Pages 295-298 Beetle Mimicry....Pages 299-304 Spider Web Mimicry....Pages 305-307 Front Matter....Pages 309-316 Defensive Bee and Wasp Mimicry by Orchid Flowers....Pages 227-227 Gall Midge Mimicry....Pages 317-321 Arthropod Wing Movement Mimicry....Pages 323-324 “Eye Spot” Mimicry....Pages 325-326 Snake Mimicry....Pages 327-327 Visual and Olfactory Feces and Carrion Mimicry....Pages 329-330 Extended Phenotype....Pages 331-332 A General Perspective of Defensive Animal Mimicry by Plants....Pages 333-333 Currently Temporary Final Words....Pages 335-335 Back Matter....Pages 337-339 ....Pages 341-385 "This book presents visual plant defenses (camouflage, mimicry and aposematism via coloration, morphology and even movement) against herbivores. It is mainly an ideological monograph, a manifesto representing my current understanding on defensive plant coloration and related issues. The book is not the final word in anything, but rather the beginning of many things. It aims to establish visual anti-herbivory defense as an integral organ of botany, or plant science as it is commonly called today. I think that like in animals, many types of plant coloration can be explained by selection associated with the sensory/cognitive systems of herbivores and predators to reduce herbivory. It is intended to intrigue and stimulate students of botany/plant science and plant/animal interactions for a very long time. This book is tailored to a readership of biologists and naturalists of all kinds and levels, and more specifically for botanists, ecologists, evolutionists and to those interested in plant/animal interactions. It is written from the point of view of a naturalist, ecologist and evolutionary biologist that I hold, considering natural selection as the main although not the only drive for evolution. According to this perspective, factors such as chance, founder effects, genetic drift and various stochastic processes that may and do influence characters found in specific genotypes, are not comparable in their power and influence to the common outcomes of natural selection, especially manifested when very many species belonging to different plant families, with very different and separate evolutionary histories, arrive at the same adaptation, something that characterizes many of the visual patterns and proposed adaptations described and discussed in this book. Many of the discussed visual defensive mechanisms are aimed at operating before the plants are damaged, i.e., to be their first line of defense"--Page 4 of cover