Flowering plants dominate much of the Earth's surface and yet, as sessile organisms, they must constantly resist attack by numerous voracious herbivores. Survival in the face of an abundance of insect predators relies on sophisticated resistance systems allowing plants to escape from herbivory in time or in space, to confront herbivores directly, or to fight them indirectly by remarkable collaborations with other species. Until recently, plant resistance was believed to be constitutive, i.e. ever-present and independent from herbivore attack. However, plants were discovered to respond actively to herbivory through the mobilization of specific defenses, and this discovery opened an exciting new field of research.
This book provides a thorough overview of the anatomical, chemical, and developmental features contributing to plant defense, with particular emphasis on plant responses that are induced by wounding or herbivore attack.

Combining introductory chapters on basic concepts of plant defense and in-depth discussions of individual topics A timely and balanced account of the rapidly developing field of induced resistance Written by prominent scientists who are leading experts in their respective fields

Autorentext
Andreas Schaller, geb. 1961, ist Diplom-Theologe und Journalist.

Inhalt
Basic Concepts of Plant Defense Against Insect Herbivores.- Direct Defenses in Plants and Their Induction by Wounding and Insect Herbivores.- Herbivore-Induced Indirect Defense: From Induction Mechanisms to Community Ecology.- Induced Defenses and the Cost-Benefit Paradigm.- Induced Direct Defenses.- Leaf Trichome Formation and Plant Resistance to Herbivory.- Resistance at the Plant Cuticle.- Wound-Periderm Formation.- Traumatic Resin Ducts and Polyphenolic Parenchyma Cells in Conifers.- Production of Secondary Metabolites.- Insect-Induced Terpenoid Defenses in Spruce.- Phenylpropanoid Metabolism Induced by Wounding and Insect Herbivory.- Defense by Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids: Developed by Plants and Recruited by Insects.- Anti-nutritional Enzymes and Proteins.- Plant Protease Inhibitors: Functional Evolution for Defense.- Defensive Roles of Polyphenol Oxidase in Plants.- Action of Plant Defensive Enzymes in the Insect Midgut.- Plant Lectins as Part of the Plant Defense System Against Insects.- Defense Signaling.- Systemins and AtPeps: Defense-Related Peptide Signals.- MAP Kinases in Plant Responses to Herbivory.- Jasmonate Biosynthesis and Signaling for Induced Plant Defense against Herbivory.- Signals Between Plants and Insects.- Caterpillar Secretions and Induced Plant Responses.- Fatty Acid-Derived Signals that Induce or Regulate Plant Defenses Against Herbivory.- Aromatic Volatiles and Their Involvement in Plant Defense.- Ecological Roles of Vegetative Terpene Volatiles.