PLoS One Dodder Data January 2013

An increasing body of evidence now indicates that parasitic species can have ecosystem-level impacts on species diversity patterns, trophic energy flow, and food web stability. Plant parasitic dodders (Cuscuta spp.) are globally distributed holoparasites that form a direct physical connection to host vascular tissue. As a hypergeneralist plant parasite, field dodder (Cuscuta campestris) can connect the phloem and xylem of widely divergent species simultaneously. Using C. campestris as a live bridge between plants, this study investigated the movement of nutrients between dodder-parasitized tomato plants (Lycopersicon lycopersicum). In particular, the study sought to address two questions: (1) If two hosts are connected by dodder, does nutrient supplementation for one “donor” host plant lead to an increased growth rate in an unmanipulated “receiver” host plant? and (2) Does shading of the donor plant lead to a reduced growth rate in a receiver host plant? While nutrient addition did lead...