Translating bumblebee dialect…
Insects feeding affects plant growth and has driven plants to evolve and invest in costly defenses. The evolutionary ecology of plant-herbivore interactions has important implications for understanding both natural ecosystems and for the agricultural systems that humans depend on for both food and fiber. The elevational gradients surrounding RMBL provide a natural laboratory to study how plant-herbivore interactions vary in response to climatic variation. We are testing how plant damage varies from low to high elevations and, correspondingly, how plant investment in herbivore defenses varies. This work provides insight into the evolution of plant defense, and also how these interactions are likely respond to climate change.
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