Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Open Access Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biological Sciences (MS)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Biological Sciences
Advisor 1
Erika Hersch-Green
Committee Member 1
Tara Bal
Committee Member 2
Christopher Webster
Abstract
Genome size (GS) varies widely among angiosperms and has been shown to mediate plant responses to nutrients. Variations of GS drastically impact plant growth, fitness, and competitive responses, influencing plant functioning, nutrient requirements, and potentially, consumptive interactions. Specifically, plants with larger genomes vary in their cellular nutrient requirements, affecting tissue quality, nutrient constraints, and invertebrate interactions. Furthermore, environmental nutrient enrichments are a key driver affecting ecosystem functioning and species interactions. Plant communities are impacted by both top-down and bottom-up controls of herbivores and nutrients, respectively, and alterations to these interactions may cause cascading trophic level effects to influence damage patterns and plant-invertebrate diversity metrics. This study examines how plant GS and nutrient enrichments influence damage patterns and plant-invertebrate community dynamics. We tested the hypotheses that (1) larger GS plants would sustain more damage when compared to smaller GS plants, especially under nutrient-limited conditions, as larger GS plants have increased nutrient material costs, and since plants are a major resource for invertebrates, (2) abundance and richness of invertebrate communities would mirror plant community abundance and richness, respectively, as these organisms are mutually dependent. Overall, we found that environmental variables influenced herbivory damage but depended on GS, that nutrient enrichments impact damage, and that invertebrate community dynamics were influenced not by plant community, but more so by seasonality. Our findings highlight the complex interactions between GS, nutrients, disturbances, and their influence on plant and invertebrate communities. This study contributes expanded knowledge of how GS and/or nutrients may influence damage patterning and plant-invertebrate community dynamics to gain a deeper understanding of terrestrial system functioning.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Petosky, Hailee B., "EXAMINING GENOME SIZE AND NUTRIENT INFLUENCE ON DAMAGE PATTERNS, AND PLANT-INVERTEBRATE COMMUNITY DYNAMICS", Open Access Master's Thesis, Michigan Technological University, 2024.