DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4qrfj6qp1
title: Evolutionary trajectories of multiple defense traits across phylogenetic and geographic scales in Vitis

description: The processes driving defense trait correlations may vary within and
 between species based on ecological or environmental contexts. However,
 most studies of plant defense theory fail to address this potential for
 shifts in trait correlations across scales. In this work, we tested for
 correlations between multiple defensive traits (secondary chemistry,
 carbon to nitrogen ratio, domatia, leaf toughness, trichomes, and pearl
 bodies) across a common garden of twenty-one Vitis species and eighteen
 genotypes of the species Vitis riparia to identify when and where patterns
 of defense trait evolution persist or break down across biological scales.
 Additionally, we asked whether Vitis defense trait investment correlates
 with environmental variables as predicted by plant defense theory, using
 environmental metrics for each Vitis species and V. riparia genotype from
 the GBIF and WorldClim databases. We tested for correlations between
 defense trait investment, herbivore palatability, and environmental
 variables using phylogenetically informed models. Beyond a few likely
 physiological exceptions, we observed a lack of significant correlations
 between defense traits at both intra- and interspecific scales, indicating
 that these traits evolve independently of each other in Vitis rather than
 forming predictable defense syndromes. We did find that investment in
 carbon:nitrogen (at both scales) and pearl bodies increases with proximity
 to the equator, demonstrating support for plant defense theory’s
 prediction of higher investment in defenses at more equatorial
 environments for some, but not all, defense traits. Overall, our results
 challenge commonly held hypotheses about plant defense evolution, namely
 the concept of syndromes, by demonstrating that strong correlations
 between defense traits are not the prevailing pattern both across and
 within Vitis species. Our work also provides the first comprehensive
 evaluation of the evolutionary divergence in approaches that Vitis, a
 genus with significant agricultural value, have evolved to defend
 themselves against herbivores.
description: # Evolutionary trajectories of multiple defense traits across phylogenetic
 and geographic scales in Vitis Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.4qrfj6qp1](10.5061/dryad.4qrfj6qp1) ## Description of the
 data and file structure Defense metrics were collected from grape vines
 grown in a common environment. Location information was aggregated from
 the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and bioclimate metrics for
 these locations were downloaded from WorldClim. Full experimental methods
 can be found in the accompanying manuscript.  ### Files and variables ####
 File: species\_means.csv **Description:** all values are mean trait
 values/abiotic parameters for the respective species.  ##### Variables *
 species: grape species name * genotype: internal genotype code for
 distinguishing Vitis riparia genotypes * trichome_density: a 1-9 score of
 the density of trichomes on the underside of the leaf; no units *
 domatia_index: a composite metric of the radius of the domatium multiplied
 by the density of the hairs of the domatium; no units * domatia_density: a
 1-9 score of the density of trichomes in the domatium area; not units *
 pearl_bodies_per_cm2: the density of pearlbodies per unit of area on the
 underside of the leaf; measured as count per square centimeter (pb/cm^2) *
 toughness: the force needed to puncture the leaf as measured by a force
 penetrometer; units are gram-force (gf) * mass_consumed: mass of leaf
 tissue consumed by a generalist herbivore in a standardized amount of
 time; measured in milligrams (mg) * CN_ratio: ratio of carbon to nitrogen
 in the leaf tissue; no units * chemical_abun: abundance of metabolites in
 the leaf tissue, measured as the sum of the areas under the metabolite
 peaks on spectra and standardized using an internal standard *
 chemical_rich: richness of metabolites in the leaf tissue, measured as the
 count of peaks on the sample's spectrum ## Code/software All analyses
 were performed using the R programming language, version 4.4.1. R packages
 used in the analysis of this data included: corrplot phytools nlme