Associate Professor Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, Ohio, United States
The amount of ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation reaching the Earth’s surface has been changing over the past decades due to the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer, increased air pollution, and cloud coverage. Current changes in the environment may lead to the evolution of adaptive plastic responses in plants and influence interactions of plants with other organisms, such as insect herbivores. However, potential evolutionary responses of organisms to environmental change will likely depend on the underlying genetic variation that is present in a population. Here, data from a common garden experiment is presented in which recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of Arabidopsis thaliana were exposed to two different levels of UVB radiation (ambient and excluded UVB) and natural insect herbivory levels. Results from this study indicate that A. thaliana RILs grown under excluded-UVB were colonized first by insect herbivores and received higher levels of insect damage. In addition, variation in UVB and herbivory levels influenced all fitness-related traits measured in this experiment. It is also worth highlighting the significant interactions of UVB and herbivory on total fruit production and flowering time, denoting that variable UVB radiation levels can alter plant responses to insect herbivores. Plant responses to UVB levels were also genetically dependent, which may have implications for evolutionary outcomes in future changing environments.
