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Costs of furanocoumarin defense |
Costs of defense come in several flavors. Costs associated with
furanocoumarin production in wild parsnips are of three types, genetic correlations,
phenotypic correlations, and physiological correlations. Significant negative
genetic correlations were found between levels of furanocoumarins in seeds and
numbers of flowers produced. In other words, genotypes that invest heavily in seed
furanocoumarins also tend to produce fewer flowers.
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Phenotypic correlation Plants that endow
their seeds with larger quantities of furanocoumarins produce less total seed biomass.
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Cost of induction Plants that
were induced to produce furanocoumarins by inflicting minimal damage (~2% of the leaf area
was damaged, see furano- coumarin induction) accumulated on
average 8% less biomass compared to plants that were left intact. |
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 Physiological
Cost Damage-induced furanocoumarin production was associated with significant
increases in dark respiration. The resulting increase in furanocoumarin
concentration was positively correlated with the increase in respiration. Moreover, all of
the increase in respiration can be accounted for by the increase in furanocoumarins (based
on theoretical costs of de novo synthesis of furanocoumarins). |
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last updated 1/11/2000
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