Host plant defense signaling in response to a coevolved herbivore combats introduced herbivore attack

Defense-free space resulting from coevolutionarily naïve host plants recently has been implicated as a factor facilitating invasion success of some insect species. Host plants, however, may not be entirely defenseless against novel herbivore threats. Volatile chemical-mediated defense signaling, which allows plants to mount specific, rapid, and intense responses, may play a role in systems experiencing novel threats. Here we investigate defense responses of host plants to a native and exotic herbivore and show that (1) host plants defend more effectively against the coevolved herbivore, (2) plants can be induced to defend against a newly-associated herbivore when in proximity to plants actively defending against the coevolved species, and (3) these defenses affect larval performance. These findings highlight the importance of coevolved herbivore-specific defenses and suggest that naïveté or defense limitations can be overcome via defense signaling. Determining how these findings apply across various host-herbivore systems is critical to understand mechanisms of successful herbivore invasion.