DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qfb
title: Data from: Characterizing the causes and consequences of calcium oxalate crystal presence in <em>Vitis riparia</em>

description: Calcium oxalate biomineralization in plants is phylogenetically widespread
 and morphologically diverse, but the function of these inorganic crystals
 is an area of active debate. Indeed, the variety of environmental
 conditions that produce the crystals, as well as their failure to provide
 consistent antiherbivore defense across plant and herbivore species,
 suggests that different crystal morphologies might have different
 functions. Using Vitis riparia, the riverbank grape, we experimentally
 investigated the environmental influence of excess calcium and simulated
 herbivory on the formation of calcium oxalate druse and raphide needle
 crystals in plant leaves. We also investigated the putative defensive
 function of these crystals using a no-choice herbivore bioassay,
 manipulating herbivore diet composition to test for impacts of crystal
 shape on herbivore growth, both on its own and with plant chemistry. We
 found that the addition of calcium to V. riparia soil increased the
 density of both raphide and druse crystals in leaves. Contrary to
 expectations, the herbivory treatment decreased the density of raphide
 crystals in leaves, and V. riparia-derived crystals did not impact the
 weight gain, time to pupation, nor the survival of moth larvae. Our
 multifaceted test of the formation and function of calcium oxalate
 crystals in demonstrates that abiotic factors are a relatively stronger
 determinant of crystal production, and, contrary to hundreds of years of
 speculation on their function, these crystals do not seem to mediate
 plant-insect interactions in all plant taxa.
description: # Data from: Characterizing the causes and consequences of calcium oxalate
 crystal presence in *Vitis riparia* Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qfb](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qfb) ##
 Description of the data and file structure To test the defensive function
 of calcium oxalate crystals in *Vitis riparia*, we performed two bioassay
 experiments and a greenhouse induction experiment ### Files and variables
 #### File: bioassay_1_for_pub.csv **Description:** data associated with
 bioassay 1, in which *Spodoptera exigua* larvae were fed leaves from the
 control and calcium treatments of the induction experiment. #####
 Variables * sample: name of larva sample, including which treatment it was
 from and which replicate it was * day_0: mass of larva (in mg) when
 introduced to the leaf cup * day_1: mass of larva (in mg) after one day of
 feeding * day_2: mass of larva (in mg) after two days of feeding *
 day_3: mass of larva (in mg) after three days of feeding * day_4: mass of
 larva (in mg) after four days of feeding * died: whether or not the larva
 died by the end of the bioassay (0 = lived, 1 = died) * change: change in
 mass between day_0 and day_4, in mg #### File: bioassay_2_for_pub.csv
 **Description:** data associated with bioassay 1, in which *Spodoptera
 exigua* larvae were each fed with one of six possible artificial diet
 treatments ##### Variables * sample: name of larva sample, including
 treatment and replicate * rep: replicate within treatment * tray: tray the
 diet cup was stored in (samples were randomly assigned to trays) *
 X13.Nov: initial mass of larva in mg, on Nov 13th, 2023 * X14.Nov: mass of
 larva on November 14th, in mg * X15.Nov: mass of larva on November 15th,
 in mg * X16.Nov: mass of larva on November 16th, in mg * X17.Nov: mass of
 larva on November 17th, in mg * X18.Nov: mass of larva on November 18th,
 in mg * X19.Nov: mass of larva on November 19th, in mg * X20.Nov: mass of
 larva on November 20th, in mg * X21.Nov: mass of larva on November 21st,
 in mg * X22.Nov: mass of larva on November 22nd, in mg * X23.Nov: mass of
 larva on November 23rd, in mg * X24.Nov: mass of larva on November 24th,
 in mg * X25.Nov: mass of larva on November 25th, in mg. NAs indicate the
 larva was no longer alive * X26.Nov: mass of larva on November 26th, in
 mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive * X27.Nov: mass of larva on
 November 27th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive *
 X28.Nov: mass of larva on November 28th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was
 no longer alive * X29.Nov: mass of larva on November 29th, in mg. NAs
 indicate the larva was no longer alive * X30.Nov: mass of larva on
 November 30th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive *
 X1.Dec: mass of larva on December 1st, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was
 no longer alive * X4.Dec: mass of larva on December 4th, in mg. NAs
 indicate the larva was no longer alive * X6.Dec: mass of larva on December
 6th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive * X7.Dec: mass of
 larva on December 7th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive *
 X12.Dec: mass of larva on December 12th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was
 no longer alive * died.prematurely: whether or not the larva died before
 eating any of the provided diet * sacrificed: whether or not the larva was
 sacrificed for dissection before the end of the bioassay * pupated:
 whether or not the larva successfully pupated * died: whether or not the
 larva did before pupation * pupal_mass_wet: wet mass of the pupated larva
 in mg * chem.treat: whether or not the sample received the chemistry
 treatment * raph.treat: whether or not the sample received the *V.
 riparia*-derived CaOx treatment * amorph.treat: whether or not the sample
 received the amorphous CaOx treatment * max: maximum mass achieved by the
 larva, in mg * percent.growth: percent growth of the larva #### File:
 induction_data_for_pub.csv **Description:** data associated with the
 induction experiment in which *V. riparia* vines were subjected to three
 possible watering and herbivory regimes, and the resulting leaves were
 examined to determine the effect of those treatments on calcium oxalate
 crystal abundance.  ##### Variables * plant.code: unique code given to
 each leaf * treatment: treatment of the plant the leaf came from *
 observer: member of the authorship team who took each measurement *
 num.raphides: number of calcium oxalate raphide bundles counted per
 standardized unit area * num.druse: number of calcium oxalate druse
 bundles counted per standardized unit area ## Code/software The data is
 stored as .csv files, so it should be viewable in google sheets or as text
 files