Production of antiherbivore chemical defences is generally assumed to be costly in terms of
fitness, although some studies have failed to detect such costs. A convincing explanation is …

Plant plastic responses to herbivore damage may include rapid, active reallocation of plant
resources to reduce the impact of herbivory on future plant fitness. However, whether these …

Conifers exhibit a number of chemical and anatomical mechanisms to defend against pests
and pathogens. Theory predicts an increased investment in plant defences under limited …

There is increasing evidence that geographic and climatic clines drive the patterns of plant
defence allocation and defensive strategies. We quantified early growth rate and both …

Prominent theories of plant defence have predicted that plants growing on nutrient‐poor
soils produce more phenolic defence compounds than those on richer soils. Only recently …

The ecological literature abounds with studies of environmental effects on plant
antiherbivore defences. While various models have been proposed (eg plant stress, optimal …

Optimal defense theory (ODT) predicts that the within-plant quantitative allocation of
defenses is not random, but driven by the potential relative contribution of particular plant …

How trees defend themselves against attack by bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) is
poorly understood. Because of this, there are diverse theories on the mechanisms of …

In this chapter we provide an overview of the many different defense strategies of conifers
against insect pests and fungal pathogens. Much of this chapter deals with the economically …

Theoretical and empirical studies show that, when past or current herbivory is a reliable cue
of future attack and defenses are costly, defenses can be induced only when needed and …