Impact of elevated CO2 on insect herbivore - host interactions

Abstract

Genetic Modification of Lignin in Hybrid Poplar(Populus alba 3Populus tremula) Does Not SubstantiallyAlter Plant Defense or Arthropod CommunitiesChristine Buhl,1,2,3Richard Meilan,4and Richard L. Lindroth11Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1630 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706 (christine.j.buhl@oregon.gov;richard.lindroth@wisc.edu),2Current address: 2600 State St., Salem, OR 97310,3Corresponding author, e-mail: christine.j.buhl@or-egon.gov, and4Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 W. State St., West Lafayette, IN 47907(rmeilan@purdue.edu)Subject Editor: Evan PreisserReceived 27 March 2017; Editorial decision 14 May 2017AbstractLignin impedes access to cellulose during biofuel production and pulping but trees can be genetically modifiedto improve processing efficiency. Modification of lignin may have nontarget effects on mechanical and chemicalresistance and subsequent arthropod community responses with respect to pest susceptibility and arthropodbiodiversity. We quantified foliar mechanical and chemical resistance traits in lignin-modified and wild-type(WT) poplar (Populus alba Populus tremula) grown in a plantation and censused arthropods present on thesetrees to determine total abundance, as well as species richness, diversity and community composition. Our re-sults indicate that mechanical resistance was not affected by lignin modification and only one genetic constructresulted in a (modest) change in chemical resistance. Arthropod abundance and community composition wereconsistent across modified and WT trees, but transgenics produced using one construct exhibited higher spe-cies richness and diversity relative to the WT. Our findings indicate that modification of lignin in poplar does notnegatively affect herbivore resistance traits or arthropod community response, and may even result in a sourceof increased genetic diversity in trees and arthropod communities