Data_Sheet_2_Climate change-related warming-induced shifts in leaf chemical traits favor nutrition of the specialist herbivore Battus polydamas archidamas.zip

One of the major impacts of climate change is increasing global temperatures. Because warming is expected to affect plant morphological and chemical traits, it may therefore also influence plant interactions with other trophic levels, including herbivores. Here, we simulated a climate warming scenario of +2.7°C in the field using open-top chambers and assessed the effects of warming on plant performance (growth, leaf area, and chlorophyll), leaf nutrients (nitrogen and carbon), and primary (amino acids and carbohydrates) and secondary (toxic aristolochic acids) metabolites in the plant Aristolochia chilensis. We performed untargeted metabolomics analyses for estimating general changes in foliar metabolites between ambient control and warming-treated plants. Bioassays were additionally conducted to evaluate how changes in host plant chemistry affected growth and nutritional parameters in first-instar larvae of the specialist lepidopteran herbivore Battus polydamas archidamas. We found that warming did not significantly affect plant performance, but did result in significant changes in leaf nutrients, and primary and secondary metabolites, although in opposite directions. While primary metabolites (specifically, nitrogen-containing compounds) decreased in response to treatment, aristolochic acids increased. Untargeted metabolomics analyses showed that, of a total of 824 features, 50 were significantly different between ambient control and warming-treated plants; some of these were identified by MS/MS spectra as amino acids. Larvae feeding on warming-treated plants, showed significantly enhanced growth, food conversion efficiency, and lipid concentration. Our study contributes to current understanding of climate change impacts on trophic interactions, showing that projected temperature increases lead to changes in the resistance phenotype of the host plant, favoring nutrition and growth of a unique specialist herbivore.

气候变化的主要影响之一为全球气温持续升高。由于气候变暖预计会改变植物的形态与化学性状，因此也可能影响植物与其他营养级生物的互作关系，其中包括植食性动物。本研究借助开顶箱（open-top chambers）在野外模拟了+2.7℃的气候变暖情景，评估了升温对智利马兜铃（Aristolochia chilensis）的植株性能（生长、叶面积与叶绿素含量）、叶片营养物质（氮与碳），以及初生代谢物（氨基酸与碳水化合物）和次生代谢物（有毒马兜铃酸）的影响。我们通过非靶向代谢组学（untargeted metabolomics）分析，探究了对照组与升温处理组植物叶片代谢物的整体变化情况。此外还开展了生物测定实验，以探明宿主植物化学组成的改变，会如何影响专性鳞翅目植食者——巴图斯凤蝶阿根廷亚种（Battus polydamas archidamas）一龄幼虫的生长与营养参数。研究结果显示，升温并未对植株性能产生显著影响，但确实引发了叶片营养物质以及初生、次生代谢物的显著变化，且二者变化趋势截然相反。具体而言，初生代谢物（尤其是含氮化合物）的含量随升温处理出现下降，而马兜铃酸的含量则有所升高。非靶向代谢组学分析结果表明，在总计检测到的824个代谢特征中，有50个在对照组与升温处理组植物间存在显著差异；其中部分差异代谢物经串联质谱（MS/MS）光谱鉴定为氨基酸。取食升温处理组植物的幼虫，其生长速率、食物转化效率与脂质含量均显著提升。本研究深化了学界对气候变化影响营养级互作的现有认知，结果表明，预测的气温升高会改变宿主植物的抗性表型，进而助力专性植食者的营养获取与生长发育。