Abstract
Population-level compensation occurs “when herbivore attack on one individual allows another individual to grow more rapidly”. This form of compensation was investigated in high and low density cotton crops subjected to three treatments: (i) undisturbed controls, (ii) uniformly damaged, in which all plants were damaged, and (iii) non-uniformly damaged, in which every second plant was damaged. Damaged plants had their vegetative buds manually removed to simulate damage by Helicoverpa spp. (Lepidoptera). Removal of vegetative buds did not reduce seed cotton production per unit ground area. In uniformly damaged crops, compensation was essentially the result of profuse branching after release of apical dominance and activation of axilary buds. In non-uniformly damaged crops, population level mechanisms acted that involved strong plant-plant interactions. At both plant densities, undamaged plants grown alongside damaged neighbours accumulated more root and shoot biomass and produced more seed cotton than undamaged plants in uniform crops. Different degrees of symmetry in the relationship between damaged and undamaged neighbours lead to different degrees of compensation, viz. seed cotton production of non-uniformly damaged crops ranged from 98 to 125% of that in controls. At high plant density, neighbour status also affected flowerbud initiation and/or retention. Changes in competitive relationships as well as early detection of and response to neighbour status were likely involved in these responses.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abhalo PJ, Ballaré CL (1995) On the importance of information-acquiring systems in plant-plant interactions. Funct Ecol 9: 5–14
Ballaré CL, Sánchez RA, Scopel AL, Casal JJ, Ghersa CM (1987) Early detection of neighbour plants by phytochrome perception of spectral changes in reflected sunlight. Plant Cell Environ 10: 551–557
Ballare CL, Scopel AL, Jordan ET, Vierstra RD (1994) Signalling among neighboring plants and the development of size inequalities in plant populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91: 10094–10098
Bishop AL, Day RE, Blood PRB, Evenson JP (1977) Effect of damaging main stem terminals at various stages of flowering, on yield of cotton in south-east Quaeensland. Aust J Exp Agric Anim Husb 17: 1032–1035
Braam J (1993) Developmental and molecular responses to touch in plants. Evolutionary and molecular responses to touch in plants. In: Spradling AC (ed) Evolutionary conservation of developmental mechanisms (50th Symposium of the Society for Developmental Biology, Marquette University). Wiley-Liss, New York, pp 185–198
Brook KD, Hearn AB, Kelly CF (1992) Response of cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., to damage by insect pests in Australia: manual simulation of damage. J Econ Entomol 85: 1368–1377
Brown DG (1994) Beetle folivory increases resource availability and alters plant invasion in monocultures of goldenrod. Ecology 75:1673–1683
Bruin J, Sabelis MW, Dicke M (1995) Do plants tap SOS signals from their infested neighbours? Trends Ecol Evol 10: 167–170
Charles Edwards DA, Lawn RJ (1984) Light interception by grain legume row crops. Plant Cell Environ 7: 247–251
Connell JH (1990) Apparent vs. “real” competition in plants. In: Grace JB, Tilman D (eds) Perspectives on plant competition. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 9–26
Constable GA (1982) Carbon fixation and distribution in cotton: implications of single leaf measurements to plant performance. Ph D Thesis, Australian National University Canberra
Crawley MJ (1983) Herbivory. The dynamics of animal-plant interactions (Studies in ecology vol 10). Blackwell, London
Crawley MJ (1989) Insect herbivores and plant population dynamics. Annu Rev Entomol 34: 531–564
Da Nóbrega LB, Beltrao NEM, Vieira DJ, Diniz MS, Azevedo DMP (1993) Influência do arranjo espacial de plantio e da época de remoção da gema apical em agodoeiro herbáceo. Pesq Agropec Bras 28: 1379–1384
Evenson JP (1969) Effects of floral and terminal bud removal on the yield and structure of the cotton plant in the Ord Valley, North Western Australia. Cotton Growing Rev 46: 37–44
Gitt GP (1994) Perspectives on cotton pest management in Australia. Annu Rev Entomol 39: 543–562
Guinn G (1982) Causes of square and boll shedding in cotton. US Dept Agric Tech Bull 1672: 1–21
Hearn AB, Fitt GP (1992) Cotton cropping systems. In: Pearson CJ (ed) Field crop ecosystems. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 85–142
Hearn AB, Room PM (1978) Analysis of crop development for cotton pest management. Protection Ecol 1: 265–277
Heilman MD, Nakmen LN, Dilday RH (1981) Tobacco budworm: effect of early-season terminal damage on cotton lint yield and earliness. J Econ Entomol 74: 732–735
Hesketh JD, Baker DN, Duncan WG (1972) Simulation of growth and yield in cotton: II Environmental control of morphogenesis. Crop Sci 12: 436–439
Kasperbauer MJ, Hunt PG (1992) Cotton seedling morphogenic responses to FR/R ratio reflected from different colored soils and soil covers. Photochem Photobiol 56: 579–584
Keddy PA (1990) Competitive hierarchies and centrifugal organization in plant communities. In: Grace JB, Tilman D (eds) Perspectives on plant competition. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 265–290
Louda SM, Keeler KH, Holt RD (1990) Herbivore influences on plant performance and competitive interactions. In: Grace JB, Tilman D (eds) Perspectives on plant competition. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 413–444
Mutsaers HJW (1984) KUTUN: A morphogenetic model for cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Agric Syst 14: 229–257
Myers RL, Brun WA, Brenner ML (1987) Effect of raceme-localised supplemental light on soybean reproductive abscission. Crop Sci 27: 273–277
Rosenthal JP, Kotanen PM (1994) Terrestrial plant tolerance to herbivory. Trends Ecol Evol 9: 145–148
Sadras VO (1995) Compensatory growth in cotton after loss of reproductive organs. Field Crops Res 40: 1–18
Solangaarachchi SM, Harper JL (1989) The effect of canopy filtered light on the growth of withe clover (Trifolium repens L). Oecologia 78: 208–213
Sorrensen-Cothern KA, Ford ED, Sprugel DG (1993) A model of competition incorporating plasticity through modular foliage and crown development. Ecol Monogr 63: 277–304
Trumble JT, Kolodny-Hirsh DM, Ting IP (1993) Plant compensation for arthropod herbivory. Annu Rev Entomol 38: 93–119
Tuomi J, Nilsson P, Årmström M (1994) Plant compensatory responses: bud dormancy as an adaptation to herbivory. Ecology 75: 1429–1436
Ungar ED, Kletter E, Genizi A (1989) Early season development of floral buds in cotton. Agron J 81: 643–649
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sadras, V.O. Population-level compensation after loss of vegetative buds: interactions among damaged and undamaged cotton neighbours. Oecologia 106, 417–423 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329696
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00329696