ReviewJournal of chemical ecology2006
The detoxification limitation hypothesis: where did it come from and where is it going?
Review in Journal of chemical ecology, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Phytochemicals Involved in Plant Resistance to Leporids and Cervids: a Systematic Review.Journal of chemical ecology · 2020Pooled it
- Plant Secondary Metabolites as Rodent Repellents: a Systematic Review.Journal of chemical ecology · 2016Pooled it
- Contrasting Nutritional Intakes in Sympatric Malagasy Lemurs: Re-Examining Frugivore and Folivore Strategies and Outcomes Using the "Efficiency-Velocity" Continuum and Use of Secondary Foods.American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- Influence of Plant Secondary Metabolites on intake, Detoxification Costs, and Microbial Communities in Deer.Journal of chemical ecology · 2026Article
- Diet change reveals asymmetric response in gene expression and microbial composition across the digestive tract of two closely related herbivores.BMC biology · 2026Article
- Forage quality shapes physiological and gut microbial responses in moose (Alces alces) of Isle Royale National Park.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Large-scale surveys of woodrats (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- More Choosy for Minor Foods: Diet, Seasonality and Food Selection in Sympatric Frugivorous and Folivorous Lemurs.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Parallel gene expansions drive rapid dietary adaptation in herbivorous woodrats.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Comparative transcriptomes reveal geographic differences in the ability of the liver of plateau zokors (Eospalax baileyi) to respond and adapt to toxic plants.BMC genomics · 2023Article
- The deterrent effects of individual monoterpene odours on the dietary decisions of African elephants.Animal cognition · 2023Article
- Effects of supplementing rice straw with two fodder tree leaves and their combinations on voluntary feed intake, growth, and nitrogen utilization in sheep.Translational animal science · 2023Article
- Cytochrome P450 Genes Expressed in Phasmatodea Midguts.Insects · 2022Article
- Effect of dietary gossypol supplement on fermentation characteristics and bacterial diversity in the rumen of sheep.PloS one · 2020Article
- Terpenes May Serve as Feeding Deterrents and Foraging Cues for Mammalian Herbivores.Journal of chemical ecology · 2019Article
- Effects of Eucalypt Plant Monoterpenes on Koala (Phascolarctos Cinereus) Cytokine Expression In Vitro.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Criollo goats limit their grass intake in the early morning suggesting a prophylactic self-medication behaviour in a heterogeneous vegetation.Tropical animal health and production · 2019Article
- Ingestion and Absorption of Eucalypt Monoterpenes in the Specialist Feeder, the Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus).Journal of chemical ecology · 2019Article
- Spatial correlations between browsing on balsam fir by white-tailed deer and the nutritional value of neighboring winter forage.Ecology and evolution · 2018Article
- Intraspecific Variation in Nutritional Composition Affects the Leaf Age Preferences of a Mammalian Herbivore.Journal of chemical ecology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The detoxification limitation hypothesis is firmly entrenched in the literature to explain various aspects of the interaction between herbivores and plant toxins. These include explanations for the existence of specialist and generalist herbivores and for the prevalence of each of these. The hypothesis suggests that the ability of mammalian herbivores to eliminate plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) largely determines which plants, and how much, they can eat. The value of the hypothesis is that it provides a clear framework for understanding how plant toxins might limit diet breadth. Thus, it is surprising, given its popularity, that there are few studies that provide experimental support either for or against the detoxification limitation hypothesis. There are two likely reasons for this. First, Freeland and Janzen did not formally propose the hypothesis, although it is implicit in their paper. Second, it is a difficult hypothesis to test, requiring an understanding of the metabolic pathways that lead to toxin elimination. Recent attempts to test the hypothesis appear promising. Results suggest that herbivores can recognize mounting saturation of a detoxification pathway and adjust their feeding accordingly to avoid intoxication. One strategy they use is to ingest a food containing a toxin that is metabolized by a different pathway. This demonstrates that careful selection of food plants is a key to existing in a chemically complex environment. As more studies characterize the detoxification products of PSMs, we will better understand how widespread this phenomenon is.
Indexed as
Identifiers
16770716What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.