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Behavioral archives link the chemistry and clonal structure of trembling aspen to the food choice of North American porcupine

  • Plant-Animal Interactions - Original Paper
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Abstract

Understanding the links among plant genotype, plant chemistry, and food selection by vertebrate herbivores is critical to assess the role of herbivores in the evolution of plant secondary chemistry. Some specialized vertebrate herbivores have been shown to select plants differentially according to plant genotype, but examples from generalists, which constitute the vast majority of vertebrate herbivores, are few, especially in natural conditions. We examined the relationship between the North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum), a generalist mammalian herbivore, and clonal trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides), a preferred food source of porcupines. We determined preference for certain aspen trees through visual examination of porcupine climbing scars left on tree bark, and through a controlled feeding experiment. We used genetic and biochemical analyses to link the behavioral archives (climbing scars) left by porcupines on aspen trunks to the clonal structure and chemical composition of trees. We show that two phenolic glycosides (tremulacin and salicortin), which are under a high degree of genetic control and thus vary in concentration across clones, are the chemical variables that most influence (deter) feeding choices by porcupines. Using behavioral archives left by a wild herbivore on a natural stand of plants thus allowed us to demonstrate that a generalist vertebrate herbivore can choose plants according to their clonal structure and genetically based chemical composition. Our results contribute to extending previous findings obtained with generalist herbivores studied in controlled conditions, and with specialist herbivores studied in the field.

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Acknowledgments

Field data collection was supported by grants to D.B. from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program, and the Fonds Québécois pour la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT). Laboratory analyses were supported by NSF grant DEB-0074427 to R.L.L. We thank Heidi Barnhill, Jackie Haas, Kim Poitras, and Isabelle Turcotte for help with field and laboratory work, and Alain Caron for help with data analyses. We are particularly thankful to Chris Cole who performed genetic analyses. We are grateful to Mark Chappell and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms that greatly improved the manuscript. The study complies with the current laws of the country in which it was performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Canada Research Chair in Conservation of Northern Ecosystems and Centre d’Etudes Nordiques, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, QC, G5L 3A1, Canada

    Brandee Diner & Dominique Berteaux

  2. Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Macdonald Campus, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 1C0, Canada

    Brandee Diner & Jim Fyles

  3. Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, 237 Russel Labs, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Richard L. Lindroth

Authors
  1. Brandee Diner
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  2. Dominique Berteaux
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  4. Richard L. Lindroth
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dominique Berteaux.

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Communicated by Mark Chappell.

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Diner, B., Berteaux, D., Fyles, J. et al. Behavioral archives link the chemistry and clonal structure of trembling aspen to the food choice of North American porcupine. Oecologia 160, 687–695 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1340-y

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