Plant genetics affects arthropod community richness and composition: evidence from a synthetic eucalypt hybrid population.

To examine how genetic variation in a plant population affects arthropod community richness and composition, we quantified the arthropod communities on a synthetic population of Eucalyptus amygdalina, E. risdonii, and their F1 and advanced-generation hybrids. Five major patterns emerged. First, the pure species and hybrid populations supported significantly different communities. Second, species richness was significantly greatest on hybrids (F1 > F2 > E. amygdalina > E. risdonii). These results are similar to those from a wild population of the same species and represent the first case in which both synthetic and wild population studies confirm a genetic component to community structure. Hybrids also acted as centers of biodiversity by accumulating both the common and specialist taxa of both parental species (100% in the wild and 80% in the synthetic population). Third, species richness was significantly greater on F1s than the single F2 family, suggesting that the increased insect abundance on hybrids may not be caused by the breakup of coadapted gene complexes. Fourth, specialist arthropod taxa were most likely to show a dominance response to F1 hybrids, whereas generalist taxa exhibited a susceptible response. Fifth, in an analysis of 31 leaf terpenoids that are thought to play a role in plant defense, hybrids were generally intermediate to the parental chemotypes. Within the single F2 family, we found significant associations between the communities of individual trees and five individual oil components, including oil yield, demonstrating that there is a genetic effect on plant defensive chemistry that, in turn, may affect community structure. These studies argue that hybridization has important community-level consequences and that the genetic variation present in hybrid zones can be used to explore the genetic-based mechanisms that structure communities.

Ontogenetic variation in levels of gibberellin A1 in Pisum : Implications for the control of stem elongation.

The levels of the biologically active gibberellin (GA), GA1, and of its precursor, GA20, were monitored at several stages during ontogeny in the apical portions of isogenic tall (Le) and dwarf (le) peas (Pisum sativum L.) using deuterated internal standards and gas chromatography-selected ion monitoring. The levels of both GAs were relatively low on emergence and on impending apical arrest. At these early and late stages of development the internodes were substantially shorter than at intermediate stages, but were capable of large responses to applied GA3. Tall plants generally contained 10-18 times more GA1 and possessed internodes 2-3 times longer than dwarf plants. Further, dwarf plants contained 3-5 times more GA20 than tall plants. No conclusive evidence for the presence of GA3 or GA5 could be obtained, even with the aid of [(2)H2]GA3 and [(2)H2]GA5 internal standards. If GA3 and GA5 were present in tall plants, their levels were less than 0.5% and 1.4% of the level of GA1, respectively. Comparison of the effects of gene le on GA1 levels and internode length with the effects of ontogeny on these variables shows that the ontogenetic variation in GA1 content was sufficient to account for much of the observed variation in internode length within the wild-type. However, evidence was also obtained for substantial differences in the potential length of different internodes even when saturating levels of exogenous GA3 were present.