A Brassicaceae’s Life: The eco-evolutionary dynamics of induced defence to multi-herbivore attack.

Plants often gets attacked by multiple insect herbivores over their lifetime. However, it is unclear how the evolution of resistance to one herbivore may help defend against subsequently attacking herbivores. This thesis shows that plants are generally able to resist multiple herbivores that attack sequentially, but that the strength of the response is evolutionary determined. Moreover, attack by an herbivore early in the plant’s lifetime can affect all future interactions with insects and therefore change the evolutionary trajectory of the evolution of plant defence to herbivores. These results unravel part of the complexity of plant-insect interactions and explain how plants can persist in a world full of herbivores.