Co-Evolutionary Interactions

Paper Summary:

This paper considers the potential for co-evolutionary interactions between plant secondary compounds and browsing mammals in a relatively simple system. It first briefly presents several theoretical ideas on plant-animal co-evolution and then present the evidence on interactions between mammalian browsers and woody plants in boreal regions that may bear on the co-evolutionary questions.

Paper Outline:
Introduction
Theoretical Co-evolution
Browsers and Food Plants in the Boreal Forest
Variation in Secondary Compounds and Browsing Resistance
Estimating Plant Fitness
The Herbivores: Hares, Moose, and Voles
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The evidence for the effects of secondary compounds on fitness has not been measured directly for boreal mammals. However, the evidence presented above suggests that they may be important. Both the fine-scale selectivity of browsers among similar plants and plant parts that vary in their levels of secondary compounds (Bryant et al. 1991a,b, Bryant et al. 1992) and the potentially severe effects of these chemicals on the herbivores' nutritional status (Iason and Palo 1991) suggest that the ability to avoid or detoxify secondary compounds is a result of selection."

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