Abstract
Five of the most common macrophytes from an aquaculture facility with high densities of the herbivorous Asian grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) were commonly unpalatable to three generalist consumers—grass carp and the native North American crayfishes Procambarus spiculifer and P. acutus. The rooted vascular plant Micranthemum umbrosum comprised 89% of the total aboveground plant biomass and was unpalatable to all three consumers as fresh tissues, as homogenized pellets, and as crude extracts. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the crude extract from M. umbrosum led to four previously known compounds that each deterred feeding by at least one consumer: 3,4,5-trimethoxyallylbenzene (1) and three lignoids: β-apopicropodophyllin (2); (−)-(3S,4R,6S)-3-(3′,4′-methylenedioxy-α-hydroxybenzyl)-4-(3″,4″-dimethoxybenzyl)butyrolactone (3); and (−)-hibalactone (4). None of the remaining four macrophytes produced a chemically deterrent extract. A 16-mo manipulative experiment showed that the aboveground biomass of M. umbrosum was unchanged when consumers were absent, but the biomass of Ludwigia repens, a plant that grass carp preferentially consumed over M. umbrosum, increased over 300-fold. Thus, selective feeding by grass carp effectively eliminates most palatable plants from this community and promotes the persistence of the chemically defended M. umbrosum, suggesting that plant defenses play critical yet understudied roles in the structure of freshwater plant communities.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Paul Williams of the Owen and Williams Fish Hatchery for supplying grass carp, macrophytes, and the observations about fish feeding. L. Stefaniak trained the grass carp for feeding assays; D. Burkepile and W. Morrison assisted with the caging experiment. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program), the Harry and Linda Teasley endowment to Georgia Tech, the National Park Service, and the Mid-South Aquatic Plant Management Society. D.O.C. was supported by the Henry and Camille Dreyfus Foundation.
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Parker, J.D., Collins, D.O., Kubanek, J. et al. Chemical Defenses Promote Persistence of the Aquatic Plant Micranthemum umbrosum . J Chem Ecol 32, 815–833 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9038-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9038-7