Patch age alters seagrass response mechanisms to herbivory damage.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9882895 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1879-0291 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 01411136 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Mar Environ Res Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: Apr. <2000- >: Kidlington, Oxford : Elsevier
      Original Publication: London : Applied Science Publishers, [c1978-
    • Subject Terms:
      Herbivory* ; Alismatales*/physiology; Ecosystem ; Plants ; Plant Leaves/metabolism
    • Abstract:
      Natural disturbances can produce a mosaic of seagrass patches of different ages, which may affect the response to herbivory. These pressures can have consequences for plant performance. To assess how seagrass patch age affects the response to herbivory, we simulated the effect of herbivory by clipping leaves of Halodule wrightii in patches of 2, 4 and 6 years. All clipped plants showed ability to compensate herbivory by increasing leaf growth rate (on average 4.5-fold). The oldest patches showed resistance response by increasing phenolic compounds (1.2-fold). Contrastingly, the concentration of phenolics decreased in the youngest patches (0.26-fold), although they had a similar leaf carbon content to controls. These results suggest that younger plants facing herbivory pressure reallocate their phenolic compounds towards primary metabolism. Results confirm the H. wrightii tolerance to herbivory damage and provides evidence of age-dependent compensatory responses, which may have consequences for seagrass colonization and growth in perturbed habitats.
      Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
      (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Ecosystem disturbance; Food webs; Grazing; Gulf of California; Habitat loss and fragmentation; Halodule wrightii; Ontogeny; Phenolic compounds; Plant–herbivore interactions; Seagrass
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20240320 Date Completed: 20240422 Latest Revision: 20240422
    • Publication Date:
      20240422
    • Accession Number:
      10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106443
    • Accession Number:
      38507985