Vulnerability of seedlings to herbivore and pathogen attack: the importance of plant vigor and plant nutritional quality in Hymenaea courbaril

The Plant Vigor Hypothesis (PVH) predicts that herbivorous insects will preferentially feed on large plants with more vigorous growth, or on more vigorous parts of the plant. However, we still need to understand how these predictions work throughout the ontogenic stages of plants and with other groups of natural plant enemies. We tested the PVH using gall-inducing insects, free-living herbivorous insects, and pathogenic fungi associated with Hymenaea courbaril seedlings of the same age cohort (six months) from seeds germinated in greenhouses. We classified the plants into three different sizes: small, medium, and large seedlings, and then measured above and belowground biomass, plant height, leaf area, and leaf area consumed by free-living herbivores. We also measured nutrient partitioning among roots, stems, and leaves and estimated hypersensitive responses. We found no differences in leaf area consumed by free-living herbivorous insects between plant size groups. However, we observed that larger seedlings were more vigorous and had greater nutritional value and, thus, represented adequate niches for colonization by pathogens and gall-inducing insects, confirming the PVH for both groups. The hypersensitive response was greater in medium and large seedlings, proving to be an effective defense mechanism against gall-inducing insects. Therefore, we highlight that nutritional quality, plant vigor and hypersensitivity response are factors that influence the incidence of pathogens and galling insects on H. courbaril seedlings.