Root microbes can improve plant tolerance to insect damage: A systematic review and meta-analysis

To limit damage from insect herbivores, plants rely on a blend of defensive mechanisms that includes partnerships with beneficial microbes, particularly those inhabiting roots. While ample evidence exists for microbially mediated resistance responses that directly target insects through changing phytotoxin and volatile profiles, we know surprisingly little about the microbial underpinnings of plant tolerance. Tolerance defenses counteract insect damage via shifts in plant physiology that reallocate resources to fuel compensatory growth, improve photosynthetic efficiency, and reduce oxidative stress. Despite being a powerful mitigator of insect damage, tolerance remains an understudied realm of plant defenses. Here we propose a novel conceptual framework that can be broadly applied across study systems to characterize microbial impacts on expression of tolerance defenses. We conducted a systematic review of studies quantifying the impact of rhizosphere microbial inoculants on plant toler..., A meta-analysis was performed following systematic review of the literature. We identified papers from our primary literature that fit the following criteria: (1) examined interactions between at least one insect herbivore, one root microbe, and one plant, (2) considered herbivore damage that was real rather than simulated (i.e., mechanical damage), or mechanical damage supplemented with insect regurgitant, (3) applied microbial inoculants to plant roots or soil (i.e., excluded cases of strictly shoot inoculation), (4) focused on the root microbial community (i.e., not phyllosphere/aerial plant tissues), (5) considered at least one measure of plant tolerance (e.g., yield, plant biomass, oxidative stress mitigation, or photosynthesis), (6) included no-microbe control treatments with which to compare treatments that added one or more microbes, and (7) considered wild-type varieties/cultivars, rather than mutant genotypes. The resultant 40 papers that fit these criteria are summarized in t..., , # Root microbes can improve plant tolerance to insect damage: A systematic review and meta-analysis

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.v15dv425n](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.v15dv425n)

## Description of the data and file structure

# Microbial-Mediated-Tolerance-MetaAnalysis

This repository contains the data files and analysis code for completion of the meta-analysis and summary of systematic review.

# Data Files - .csv

download three data files to run the analysis code

\"all-papers-summary.csv\"  \"hedge-d-simple-ContinMod.csv\"  \"tolerance lit review table_working1august.csv\"

# Analysis code - .Rmd

\"meta-analysis-forGitHub_Final.Rmd\"

### Files and variables

#### File: all-papers-summary.csv

**Description:** Summary of variables and information collected from studies included in literature review and meta-analysis. This data file was used for analysis and works with R code provided. Empty cells indicate a measurement was not recorded or data is missing.

##### Variables

* Citat...