explore | Grilled Cheese

@botsocamerica.bsky.social Oct 16, 2026, 7:26 PM

The intensity & spatial dispersion of within-plant #herbivory drive trait-specific resistance & tolerance in wild #cotton

New #AJB research by Víctor Hugo Ramírez-Delgado, Yeyson Briones-May, Juan Sánchez-Durán, Luis Abdala-Roberts et al.

doi.org/10.1002/ajb2...

#botany #plantscience

Close-up of an Alabama argillacea caterpillar actively feeding on an upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) leaf. The surrounding cotton leaves show herbivory damage with multiple chewed holes.

@jpecol.bsky.social Oct 13, 2026, 3:55 PM

Danielle Begley-Miller et al. examined responses of cucumber-root total counts and flowering abundance to #white_taileddeer exclusion, competitive release from surrounding vegetation, and soil application of #limestone.

#herbivory | #soilacidification | #ecologicalindicator

doi.org/10.1093/jpe/...

Predicted final flowering counts (2021) in central Pennsylvania, USA, based on the interaction of initial soil manganese in 2014 and post-lime treatment pH in 2016. Flowering counts decreased with increasing pH from 2014 to 2021 on sites with initially low manganese (6 cmolc kg−1). On sites with initially moderate (32 cmolc kg−1) or high (82 cmolc kg−1) levels of soil manganese, flowering counts increased with increasing pH from 2014 to 2021.

@plantcellphysiol.bsky.social Sep 30, 2026, 9:07 AM

How do plant-soil feedbacks & defense pathways differ if they are induced by exogenous #phytohormones or #herbivory?

These are some of the questions posed by PCP budding Editor, Merissa Huei-Hsuan Tsai @hueihsuantsai.bsky.social

🆓 doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...

#PlantScience
#PlantImmunity

Schematic overview showing defense-induced rhizosphere shifts and density-gated plant-soil feedback systems in B. oleracea.The diagram is split into the initial 'Conditioning phase' (left) where both the JA and SA pathways are induced by either phytohormone application (MeJA, SA) or herbivory (M. brassicae caterpillars; M. persicae aphids). The JA-pathway induction depleted Proteobacteria, mainly the genus Massilia, in the rhizosphere, while both pathways enriched a shared set of general stress-responsive microbes, including Planctomycetota (bacteria) and Mortierellomycota (fungi). The 'Feedback phase' is shown in the right panel: second-generation plants grown in conditioned soils were challenged with caterpillars or aphids; for clarity, only the SA-conditioned soil under aphid challenge is illustrated, as this was the only combination for which a soil-legacy effect on herbivore performance was detected. The soil legacy effect was not detectable under high aphid density, but became apparent under low aphid density. The diagram concludes that SA-conditioned soil from the conditioning phase is passed into the feedback phase. Figure taken from Huei-Hsuan Merissa Tsai, Not whether, but when: contextual rules for defense-induced plant–soil feedbacks, Plant and Cell Physiology, Volume 67, Issue 9, September 2026, Pages 1458–1460, https://doi.org/10.1093/pcp/pcag116

@wisdeppes.bsky.social Sep 14, 2026, 11:45 AM

Illuminating review by Labandeira and Wappler

Arthropod and Pathogen Damage on Fossil and Modern Plants: Exploring the Origins and Evolution of Herbivory on Land

tinyurl.com/3wj3ryza

#PlantandEnvironmentalScience

#PaleoBiology

#Herbivory

#PermianTriassicCrisis

#Pathogen

#Ecology

Fig 1

@oikosjournal.bsky.social Sep 3, 2026, 2:29 PM

🗺️🍽️The effect of resource concentration on consumer population densities depends on spatial scale and diet breadth

vist.ly/5h67t

#CommunityEcology #DietBreadth #Herbivory #PlantInsectInteractions #ResourceConcentration