Supervised by Prof. Konrad Fiedler, our project at the University of Bayreuth on the diversity and role
of herbivorous insects started in spring of 1999.
For example, antimicrobial peptides could be used as food preservatives, and understanding the role of indigenous gut residents could contribute to the development of novel biocontrol strategies
against herbivorous insect pests.
Leaf fossils record feeding damage by
herbivorous insects in the form of holes or traces on the leaves (Fig. 4).
Current paradigms generally assume that increased plant nitrogen (N) should enhance herbivore performance by relieving protein limitation,
increasing herbivorous insect populations.
The scientists explain this phenomenon with the fact that vegetable surfaces often contain microstructures and / or waxes which make it harder
for herbivorous insects to walk on them.
«We assume that the competition between plants and
herbivorous insects presented an evolutionary pressure for spiders to develop better adhesives,» says Wolff.
When herbivorous insects ingest these glycosylated toxins while feeding on plants, sugar - cleaving gut enzymes called glycosidases cleave these sugars from the defensive substances and the toxins are released in the midgut.
Together, their known 135,000 species comprise some 80 % of all herbivorous beetles and almost half of
all herbivorous insects.
Plants produce a large arsenal of toxic compounds in order fend off
herbivorous insects.
Production of GM wasps expressing insecticide resistance for biological control of pests, for example, could lead to involuntary transmission of this resistance to
the herbivorous insects.
I am specifically interested in behavioral adaptations of
herbivorous insects that may have adaptive functions in foraging, and have begun exploring nocturnal herbivory as one potential mechanism.
To investigate, the team reviewed 76 studies published between 1968 and 2014 that looked at the relationship between plant traits and
herbivorous insects» growth or survival.
Although there are a million or more species of
herbivorous insects, any individual plant species is resistant to the vast majority of these.
My own research expertise is in host selection behaviour of
herbivorous insects, and particularly insect olfaction.
The higher concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide throughout the PETM decreased the nutritional value of plant material, however, leading to a temporary decrease in the size of
some herbivorous insects and mammals.