Plant defence syndromes on islands

Aim: It has been hypothesised that insular plant taxa have evolved reduced defences in response to lower herbivore pressure on islands. However, the few studies testing this hypothesis have addressed variation in individual defensive traits, without paying attention to patterns of correlated trait expression (i.e. defence syndromes). Location: Balearic and Canary Islands. Taxon: Ninety-one woody plant species. Methods: We tested whether plant species with contrasting histories of insularity (namely: endemics, non-endemic natives, and exotics) differed in their patterns of variation for a suite of morphological and chemical traits putatively associated with herbivory. For this, we measured eight leaf traits of 42 endemic, 29 native non-endemic, and 20 introduced species for which specimens were sourced from botanical gardens found in two archipelagos: the Balearic and Canary Islands. Results: We conducted phylogenetic-controlled analyses which showed that, contrary to predic...