Plant Defense

Plant Defense provides an overview of all major aspects of plant defence, including defence against pathogens, parasites, and invertebrate and vertebrate herbivores. The book looks at defense mechanisms including structural and chemical defences, and constitutive and inducible defences. Including details of how plants 'sense' attack and how this is communicated within the plant and also to neighbouring plants, how plants coordinate defence responses to simultaneous multiple attacks, and the energy and resources expended by a plant in maintaining and implementing its defence systems.

Preface x

Chapter 1 Why Do Plants Need Defenses? 1

1.1 Plants as sources of food 1

1.2 Organisms that use plants as food 2

1.3 Impact of infection and herbivory in natural and agricultural ecosystems 6

1.4 Conclusions 11

Chapter 2 What Defenses Do Plants Use? 15

2.1 Introduction 15

2.2 Defenses used against pathogens 15

2.3 Defenses used against parasitic plants 37

2.4 Defenses used against nematodes 41

2.5 Defenses used against herbivorous insects 44

2.6 Defenses used against vertebrate herbivores 58

2.7 Defenses used against neighboring plants--allelopathy 64

2.8 Conclusions 66

Chapter 3 Sounding the Alarm: Signaling and Communication in Plant Defense 77

3.1 Introduction 77

3.2 Signaling in plant-pathogen interactions 77

3.3 Signaling in plant-nematode interactions 91

3.4 Signaling in plant-insect herbivore interactions 93

3.5 Signaling in interactions between plants and vertebrate herbivores 110

3.6 Signaling in interactions between plants and parasitic plants 110

3.7 Conclusions 111

Chapter 4 Plant Defense in the Real World: Multiple Attackers and Beneficial Interactions 125

4.1 Introduction 125

4.2 Dealing with multiple attackers: cross-talk between signaling pathways 126

4.3 Can beneficial plant-microbe interactions induce resistance in plants? 143

4.4 Conclusions 146

Chapter 5 The Evolution of Plant Defense 153

5.1 Introduction 153

5.2 Hypotheses of plant defense 153

5.3 Evolution of plant defense strategies 163

5.4 Patterns of plant defense evolution 169

5.5 Why do plants have induced defenses? 172

5.6 The coevolutionary arms race 183

5.7 Conclusions 191

Chapter 6 Exploiting Plant Defense 201

6.1 Introduction 201

6.2 Using plant resistance to protect crops--breeding 201

6.3 Using plant resistance to protect crops--induced resistance 213

6.4 Using plant resistance to protect crops--biotechnological approaches 220

6.5 Conclusions 224

Recommended reading 225

References 225

Index 231

"In conclusion, the new volume by Walters provides a great basis for an introductory course in plant defenses as part of an upper-level undergraduate or graduate curriculum in ecology, applied entomology, plant pathology, plant biology, or plant breeding.." (The Quarterly Review of Biology, 1 December 2011)

"The advances in this field have been striking. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners." (Choice, 1 May 2011)

Dale Walters is based at Crop & Soil Systems Research Group, Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, UK.

Plants are sources of nourishment for thousands of fungi, bacteria, invertebrates, vertebrates, and other plants. Plants possess a truly remarkable diversity of mechanisms to fend off attackers and recent research has shown just how complex and sophisticated these defense mechanisms can be.

Plant Defense provides comprehensive coverage of the range of different organisms that plants need to fend off, describes how plants coordinate their defenses against multiple attacks, explains the evolution of defense in plants, and how plant defences are exploited in crop protection strategies.

Plant Defense:

• Covers plants’ defenses against pathogens, pests, and parasitic plants: together in one book
• Brings together succinct, cutting edge information in a user-friendly format
• Gives an understanding of how plants ward off attacks from multiple enemies
• Is written by Dale Walters, an internationally known and respected researcher and teacher in crop protection, who distils his wealth of knowledge in a novel and exciting way
• Is an essential purchase for all those involved in plant protection around the globe

Plant Defense is primarily designed for use by upper undergraduates and post graduates studying crop protection, agricultural sciences, applied entomology, plant pathology, and plant sciences. Biological and agricultural research scientists in the agrochemical and crop protection industries, and in academia, will find much of great use in this excellent new book. Libraries in all universities and research establishments where agricultural and biological sciences are studied and taught should have multiple copies of this very valuable book on their shelves.