ArticlePlanta2021
Picking sides: feeding on the abaxial leaf surface is costly for caterpillars.
Article in Planta, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative evaluation of physical methods for extracting leaf trichomes.Plant methods · 2026Article
- Trichome density and herbivore behaviour on tomato is influenced by herbivory, plant age, and leaf surface.AoB PLANTS · 2025Article
- Melanaphis sacchari/sorghi complex: current status, challenges and integrated strategies for managing the invasive sap-feeding insect pest of sorghum.Pest management science · 2025Review
- Atmospheric cold plasma alters plant traits and negatively affects the growth and development of fall armyworm in rice.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Brown midrib (BMR) and plant age impact fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) growth and development in sorghum-sudangrass (Sorghum x drummondii).Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Continuous mowing differentially affects floral defenses in the noxious and invasive weed Solanum elaeagnifolium in its native range.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effects of fast and slow-wilting soybean genotypes on fall armyworm (Communicative & integrative biology · 2024Article
- Ecological interactions, host plant defenses, and control strategies in managing soybean looper,Frontiers in insect science · 2024Review
- Morphological characterization of intraspecific variation for trichome traits in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum).Botanical studies · 2023Article
- An attempt at fixing the oversimplification of Nightshades' (genusFrontiers in plant science · 2023Article
- Does Domestication Affect Structural and Functional Leaf Epidermal Traits? A Comparison between Wild and Cultivated Mexican Chili Peppers (Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Desktop scanning electron microscopy in plant-insect interactions research: a fast and effective way to capture electron micrographs with minimal sample preparation.Biology methods & protocols · 2022Article
- Morphological characterization of trichomes shows enormous variation in shape, density and dimensions across the leaves of 14AoB PLANTS · 2021Article
- Exploring the role of soil types on defense and fitness traits of silverleaf nightshade (Plant signaling & behavior · 2021Article
- Silverleaf Nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium) Undergoes Guild-Specific Transcriptomic Reprogramming Against Chewing Versus Piercing Sucking Herbivory.Physiologia plantarumArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
MAIN
conclusionThe study provides us with the evidence that caterpillars tend to feed on the abaxial leaf surface despite the damage caused to them because of higher trichome density. To defend against herbivory, plants have evolved physical and chemical defense mechanisms, including trichomes (hair like appendages on leaves and stem) being one of them. Caterpillars, a major group of insect herbivores are generally found to occupy the abaxial (underside) leaf surface, considered as an avoidance mechanism from biotic and abiotic stresses. Since trichomes are a first line of defense, we examined the correlation between abaxial vs adaxial (above side) trichomes and caterpillar feeding, behavior, and growth. A combination of field, lab and microscopy experiments were performed using tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae), a Solanaceae specialist caterpillar, and multiple host species. We found that M. sexta caterpillars overwhelmingly preferred to stay and feed on the abaxial leaf surface, but the abaxial leaf surface also had significantly more trichomes, and consequently, caterpillars took significantly longer to commence feeding. In addition, lab-based diet experiment containing shaved trichomes showed that feeding on the abaxial leaf surface with more trichomes also affected caterpillar growth. Taken together, our study shows that although caterpillars prefer to feed on the abaxial leaf surface, they accrue feeding delays and developmental constraints, indicating tradeoffs affecting performance, and exposure to predation and abiotic stressors.
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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.