Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Current Opinion in Insect Science

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

Coevolution between plants and herbivores has been proposed as a major evolutionary force that resulted in their radiation and diversification. Plants have evolved a broad array of strategies that directly or indirectly avoid, repel, deter, or kill herbivore attackers. These include (but not limited to) tolerance to damage through compensatory growth of tissue lost from herbivory, resistance via physical and chemical defenses, induced responses, and avoidance through reduced apparency or phenological mismatch. In response, herbivores have evolved adaptations to circumvent, resist, detoxify, and even use plant defenses for their own benefit (e.g. sequestration). These include anatomical, physiological, and behavioral adaptations, but also symbiotic associations to overcome the defenses of the host plant. Ecologists and evolutionary biologists have been studying plant–herbivore interactions for decades. Recent advances in community ecology, genomics, metabolomics, and transgenic approaches allowed us to uncover the mechanisms by which some herbivores acquired the ability to neutralize plant defenses, or how plant communities reduce herbivory by creating heterogeneous chemical landscapes. Future research should consider integrating trait syndromes rather than individual traits when testing hypotheses about plant–insect coevolution, and including the third trophic level as an important selective force in plant–herbivore coevolution.

Funding Source

The author received support from a New Faculty Initiative Grant (NFIG) from the College of Arts and Sciences at Illinois State University. This article was published open access thanks to a transformative agreement between Milner Library and Elsevier.

Comments

First published in Current Opinion in Insect Science (2026): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2026.101635

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.1016/j.cois.2026.101635

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