Fruit abscission by Physalis species as defense against frugivory

Abstract

AbstractFruit abscission as a response to herbivory is well‐documented in many plant species, but its effect on further damage by mobile herbivores that survive fruit abscission is relatively unstudied. Physalis plants (Solanaceae) abscise fruit containing feeding larvae of their main frugivore, Heliothis subflexa Guenée (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), a specialist moth. We tested the ability of H. subflexa larvae placed under the plant canopy to find and climb onto two architecturally different Physalis species. Physalis pubescens L., a low, shrub‐like, spreading plant, abscises its fruit at a higher rate than Physalis angulata L., a tall arborescent plant. As a result, small larvae are more often dropped from P. pubescens. Third and fifth instars located P. pubescens faster and with a higher probability than P. angulata. Although fifth instars outperformed third‐instar caterpillars at finding P. angulata, P. pubescens was located equally fast by the two instars. Heliothis subflexa located Physalis plants more successfully and more quickly than a close relative, the generalist Heliothis virescens Fabricius. The higher fruit abscission rates in P. pubescens may be an evolved response to its greater susceptibility to searching caterpillars.