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Biotic Defenses Against Herbivory

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Plant-Animal Interactions

Abstract

Biotic defenses, often called indirect defenses, are relationships in which one organism attracts predators of its own enemies. A classic example of biotic defense is the ant-plant mutualism in which ants protect EFN-bearing plants from herbivores, but other interspecific interactions also qualify as biotic defense, including spider-plant, ant-aphid, and ant-butterfly defense relationships. Animal-animal relationships can also be a form of biotic defense, although host plants can still indirectly benefit from the defense in some cases. Overall, the costs and benefits to the organisms involved in biotic defense depend upon multiple factors, and the overall outcomes and implications for the stability of the relationship will thus also vary. Further consideration of this variation will lead to a deeper understanding of the evolutionary pressures behind these relationships and their contributions to the maintenance of biodiversity, and will also help us predict how they will change in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e de Interações (LECI), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Renan F. Moura & Kleber Del-Claro

  2. University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Eva Colberg

  3. Harris World Ecology Center, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Eva Colberg

  4. Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia Goiano, campus Urutaí, Urutaí, Goiás, Brazil

    Estevão Alves-Silva

  5. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

    Isamara Mendes-Silva

  6. Instituto de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza, Universidade da Integração Internacional da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira, Redenção, Ceará, Brazil

    Roberth Fagundes

  7. Laboratório de História Natural e Reprodutiva de Artrópodes (LHINRA), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Vanessa Stefani

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    Helena Maura Torezan-Silingardi

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Moura, R.F. et al. (2021). Biotic Defenses Against Herbivory. In: Del-Claro, K., Torezan-Silingardi, H.M. (eds) Plant-Animal Interactions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66877-8_5

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