Variation and fitness costs for tolerance to different types of herbivore damage in Boechera stricta genotypes with contrasting glucosinolate structures

Abstract

• Analyses of plant tolerance in response to different modes of herbivory are essential to an understanding of plant defense evolution, yet are still scarce. Allocation costs and trade-offs between tolerance and plant chemical defenses may influence genetic variation for tolerance. However, variation in defenses also occurs for the presence or absence of discrete chemical structures; yet, the effects of intraspecific polymorphisms on tolerance to multiple herbivores have not been evaluated. • Here, in a glasshouse experiment, we investigated the variation for tolerance to different types of herbivore damage, and direct allocation costs, in 10 genotypes of Boechera stricta (Brassicaceae), a wild relative of Arabidopsis, with contrasting foliar glucosinolate chemical structures (methionine-derived glucosinolates vs glucosinolates derived from branched-chain amino acids). • We found significant genetic variation for tolerance to different types of herbivore. Structural variations in the glucosinolate profile did not influence tolerance to damage, but predicted plant fitness. Levels of constitutive and induced glucosinolates varied between genotypes with different structural profiles, but we did not detect any cost of tolerance explaining the genetic variation in tolerance among genotypes. • Trade-offs between plant tolerance to multiple herbivores may not explain the existence of intermediate levels of tolerance to damage in plants with contrasting chemical defensive profiles.