An Ecological Analysis of the Herbivory-Elicited JA Burst and Its Metabolism: Plant Memory Processes and Predictions of the Moving Target Model
Figure 7
OS-elicitation motivates movement of M. sexta larvae away from elicited laminal sectors.
1st instar M. sexta were placed on the underside of N. attenuata leaf sectors that were (1) un-elicited (control), or elicited (2) 15 min or (3) 2 h prior to placement of caterpillars. Movement and feeding activity of larvae between and within sectors were recorded. (A) 24 h after elicitation, a larger percentage of larvae had moved to a new laminal sector (solid bars) if the leaf had been elicited 15 min prior to placement (17 of 29 larvae) than if the leaf was un-elicited (9 of 27 larvae; pair-wise χ2 = 3.60, P = 0.06). However, if leaves were elicited 2 h prior, larval movement did not differ from that on control leaves (10 of 25 larvae moved to a new laminal sector). (B) Comparison of the total number of feeding sites established by individuals on control leaves (open bars) and leaves elicited 15 min prior to larval placement (solid bars) revealed that prior OS elicitation motivated larvae to initiate additional feeding sites on elicited leaves.