This book summarizes our current knowledge on belowground defence strategies in plants by world-class scientists actively working in the area. The volume includes chapters covering belowground defence to main soil pathogens such as Fusarium, Rhizoctonia, Verticillium, Phytophthora, Pythium and Plasmodiophora, as well as to migratory and sedentary plant parasitic nematodes. In addition, the role of root exudates in belowground plant defence will be highlighted, as well as the crucial roles of pathogen effectors in overcoming root defences. Finally, accumulating evidence on how plants can differentiate beneficial soil microbes from the pathogenic ones will be covered as well. Better understanding of belowground defences can lead to the development of environmentally friendly plant protection strategies effective against soil-borne pathogens which cause substantial damage on many crop plants all over the world. The book will be a useful reference for plant pathologists, agronomists, plant molecular biologists as well as students working on these and related areas.

Plants face a daunting array of creatures that eat them, bore into them, and otherwise use virtually every plant part for food, shelter, or both. But although plants cannot flee from their attackers, they are far from defenseless. In addition to adaptations like thorns, which may be produced in response to attack, plants actively alter their chemistry and physiology in response to damage. For instance, young potato plant leaves being eaten by potato beetles respond by producing chemicals that inhibit beetle digestive enzymes. Over the past fifteen years, research on these induced responses to herbivory has flourished, and here Richard Karban and Ian T. Baldwin present the first comprehensive evaluation and synthesis of this rapidly developing field. They provide state-of-the-discipline reviews and highlight areas where new research will be most productive. Their comprehensive overview will be welcomed by a wide variety of theoretical and applied researchers in ecology, evolutionary biology, plant biology, entomology, and agriculture.

"Reprinted from Plant and soil, volume 274 (2005)."

This volume presents the latest research on herbivores, aquatic and terrestrial mammals and insects. The Second Edition, written almost entirely by new authors, effectively complements the initial work. It includes advances in molecular biology and microbiology, ecology, and evolutionary theory that have been achieved since the first edition was published in 1979. The book also incorporates relatively new methodologies in the area of molecular biology, like protein purification and gene cloning. Volume II, Ecological and Evolutionary Processes, also opens up entirely new subjects: The discussions of interactions have expanded to include phenomena at higher trophic levels, such as predation and microbial processing and other environmental influences. Both this and Volume I, The Chemical Participants, will be of interest to chemists, biochemists, plant and insect ecologists, evolutionary biologists, physiologists, entomologists, and agroecologists interested in both crop and animal science. - Presents coevolution of herbivores and host plants - Examines resource availability and its effects on secondary metabolism and herbivores - Studies physiology and biochemistry of adaptation to hosts - Includes tri-trophic interactions involving predators and microbes

Researchers now recognize that above- and belowground communities are indirectly linked to one another, often by plant-mediated mechanisms. To date, however, there has been no single multi-authored edited volume on the subject. This book remedies that gap, and offers state-of-the art insights into basic and applied research on aboveground-belowground interactions and their functional consequences. Drawing on a diverse pool of global expertise, the authors present diverse approaches that span a range of scales and levels of complexity. The respective chapters provide in-depth information on the current state of research, and outline future prospects in the field of aboveground-belowground community ecology. In particular, the book’s goal is to expand readers’ knowledge of the evolutionary, community and ecosystem consequences of aboveground-belowground interactions, making it essential reading for all biologists, graduate students and advanced undergraduates working in this rapidly expanding field. It touches on multiple research fields including ecology, botany, zoology, entomology, microbiology and the related applied areas of biodiversity management and conservation.

This book investigates the induced responses of plants to herbivores and to diseases. Plant pathologists and entomologists will find that their disciplines have a lot in common when it comes to the interest in the transduction signals of plants that mediate induced responses. Induced Plant Defenses Against Pathogens and Herbivores will allow these two disciplines to converse and learn from their similarities and differences.

Plant resistance to pathogens is one of the most important strategies of disease control. Knowledge of resistance mechanisms, and of how to exploit them, has made a significant contribution to agricultural productivity. However, the continuous evolution of new variants of pathogen, ana additional control problems posed by new crops and agricultural methods, creates a need for a corresponding increase in our understanding of resistance and ability to utilize it. The study of resistance mechanisms also has attractions from a purely academic point of view. First there is the breadth of the problem, which can be approached at the genetical, molecular, cellular, whole plant or population lev~ls. Often there is the possibility of productive exchange of ideas between different disciplines. Then there is the fact that despite recent advances, many of the mechanisms involved have still to be fully elucidated. Finally, and compared with workers in other areas of biology, the student of resistance is twice blessed in having as his subject the interaction of two or more organisms, with the intriguing problems of recognition, specificity and co-evolution which this raises.

Plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) such as terpenes and phenolic compounds are known to have numerous ecological roles, notably in defence against herbivores, pathogens and abiotic stresses and in interactions with competitors and mutualists. This book reviews recent developments in the field to provide a synthesis of the function, ecology and evolution of PSMs, revealing our increased awareness of their integrative role in connecting natural systems. It emphasises the multiple roles of secondary metabolites in mediating the interactions between organisms and their environment at a range of scales of ecological organisation, demonstrating how genes encoding for PSM biosynthetic enzymes can have effects from the cellular scale within individual plants all the way to global environmental processes. A range of recent methodological advances, including molecular, transgenic and metabolomic techniques, are illustrated and promising directions for future studies are identified, making this a valuable reference for researchers and graduate students in the field.