DOI: 10.5061/dryad.4xgxd25dq
title: Data for: Early land plants: Plentiful but neglected resources for herbivores?

description: Plants and herbivores have been engaged in a co-evolutionary arms race for
 millions of years, during which plants evolved various defenses and other
 traits to cope with herbivores, whereas herbivores evolved traits to
 overcome the plants’ resistance strategies. Herbivores may also avoid
 certain plants merely because these lack suitable nutrients for their
 development. Interestingly, the number of herbivores that attack
 individual early land plants like mosses and ferns is quite low. Among
 others, poor nutrient quality has been hypothesized to explain the
 apparent low herbivory pressure on such plants, but still awaits
 scientific evidence. Here, the nutritive suitability of representative
 mosses and liverworts (bryophytes) and ferns (pteridophytes) for
 herbivores was investigated using feeding assays combined with
 quantifications of nutrients (proteins, amino acids and sugars). Growth
 and survival of two polyphagous herbivores, a caterpillar and a snail,
 were monitored when fed on fifteen species of bryophytes and
 pteridophytes, as well as on maize (Zea mays, angiosperm) used as an
 external indicative nutritional resource. Overall, our results show that
 the poor performance of the herbivores on the studied early land plants is
 not correlated with nutritional quality. The growth and performance of
 snails and caterpillars fed with these plants were highly variable and
 independent of nutrient content. These findings arguably dismiss the poor
 nutrient quality hypothesis as the cause of herbivory deficit in
 bryophytes and pteridophytes. They suggest the possible presence of early
 resistance traits that have persisted all through the long evolutionary
 history of plant-herbivore interactions.
description: --- title: "README" author: Gregory ROEDER date: 28.08.2025
 ---------------- # GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Project title: Data for Early
 land plants Plentiful but neglected resources for herbivores 2. Authors:
 Author 1 Name: Audrey DUHIN Role: PhD student Institution: University of
 Neuchâtel Address: Institut de biologie, Rue Emile-Argand 11, 2000
 Neuchâtel Email: [audrey.duhin@unine.ch](mailto:audrey.duhin@unine.ch)
 Author 2 Name: Ricardo AR Machado Role: Researcher Institution: University
 of Neuchâtel Address: Institut de biologie, Rue Emile-Argand 11, 2000
 Neuchâtel Email: [rarm.machado@gmail.com](mailto:rarm.machado@gmail.com)
 Author 3 Name: Ted TURLINGS Role: Professor Emeritus Institution:
 University of Neuchâtel Address: Institut de biologie, Rue Emile-Argand
 11, 2000 Neuchâtel Email:
 [ted.turlings@unine.ch](mailto:ted.turlings@unine.ch) Author 4 Name:
 Gregory ROEDER Role: Researcher Institution: University of Neuchâtel
 Address: Institut de biologie, Rue Emile-Argand 11, 2000 Neuchâtel Email:
 [gregory.roeder@unine.ch](mailto:gregory.roeder@unine.ch) 3. Linked
 publication (join DOI if possible): * Duhin, A.; Machado, R.A.R.;
 Turlings, T.C.J.; Röder, G. Early land plants: Plentiful but neglected
 nutritional resources for herbivores? Ecol. Evol. 2022, 12, e9617.
 [https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9617](https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9617) 1.
 Date of publication: 2022 2. Discipline: Biology 3. Topic keywords: early
 land plants, ferns, generalist herbivores, insect, mosses, nutritive
 content, snail 4. Funding: Funded by the University of Neuchâtel ## DATA
 OVERVIEW 1. Number of file and datasets: 5 csv files (semi-colon
 delimited, comma decimal) 2. For each file, describe shortly what it
 contains (data, documentation, code...): * spodoptera_exigua_assays.csv:
 tabular data on Spodoptera exigua caterpillars development on 16 moss and
 fern species, and artificial diet, used as food supply. Individual masses
 at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24 and 27 days are recorded. Numbers of
 surviving caterpillars through the month of the experiment, as well as
 numbers of pupae and adult emergence are shown. *
 cochlicella_barbara_assays.csv: tabular data on Cochlicella barbara snails
 development on 16 moss and fern species, and artificial diet, used as food
 supply. On each diet (plants + artificial), snail masses and survival
 rates at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30 and 33 days are recorded.
 * proteins_content.csv: tabular data on proteic contents (mg of proteins
 /g of plant leaf dry weight) measured in 16 moss and fern species. *
 amino_acids_content.csv: tabular data on 16 amino acid contents (mg of
 amino acid /g of plant leaf dry weight) measured within 16 moss and fern
 species. * sugar_content.csv: tabular data on 4 sugars (glucose, fructose,
 sucrose, starch) contents (mg /g of plant leaf dry weight) measured in 16
 moss and fern species. ### METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION 1. Date of data
 collection (precise if specific to each file): All data were collected in
 2017 and 2018. 2. Geographic location of data collection (precise if
 specific to each file): All data were collected at the University of
 Neuchâtel (Switzerland). 3. Methods used for collection and/or generation
 of data: Detailed information available here
 [https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9617](https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9617) 4.
 Methods used to process the data: Detailed information available here
 [https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9617](https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9617) 5.
 Instrument and/or software needed to read and handle the data: Microsoft
 Excel or equivalent 6. Quality-assurance procedures performed on the data:
 #### DATAFILE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION: spodoptera_exigua_assays.csv 1. Number
 of variables: 33 2. Number of cases/rows: 69/2277 3. Variable List:
 Dietary treatment, Plant Individual, Larval_mass_D0 (mg), Number of
 larvae_D0, Larval_mass_D3 (mg), Number of larvae_D3, Larval_mass_D6 (mg),
 Number of larvae_D6, Larval_mass_D9 (mg), Number of larvae_D9, Number of
 pupae_D9, Larval_mass_D12 (mg), Number of larvae_D12, Number of pupae_D12,
 Larval_mass_D15 (mg), Number of larvae_D15, Number of pupae_D15,
 Larval_mass_D18 (mg), Number of larvae_D18, Number of pupae_D18, Number of
 adult_D18, Larval_mass_D21 (mg), Number of larvae_D21, Number of
 pupae_D21, Number of adult_D21, Larval_mass_D24 (mg), Number of
 larvae_D24, Number of pupae_D24, Number of adult_D24, Larval_mass_D27
 (mg), Number of larvae_D27, Number of pupae_D27, Number of adult_D27 4.
 Missing data codes: 5. Remarks: #### DATAFILE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
 cochlicella_barbara_assays.csv 1. Number of variables: 25 2. Number of
 cases/rows: 1725/69 3. Variable List: Dietary treatment, Plant Individual,
 Weight_D0, Weight_D3 (mg), Survival_D3 (%), Weight_D6, Survival_D6 (%),
 Weight_D9, Survival_D9 (%), Weight_D12, Survival_D12 (%), Weight_D15,
 Survival_D15 (%), Weight_D18, Survival_D18 (%), Weight_D21, Survival_D21
 (%), Weight_D24, Survival_D24 (%), Weight_D27, Survival_D27 (%),
 Weight_D30, Survival_D30 (%), Weight_D33, Survival_D33 (%) 4. Missing data
 codes: 5. Remarks: #### DATAFILE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
 proteins_content.csv 1. Number of variables: 3 2. Number of cases/rows:
 195/65 3. Variable List: Plant Species, Individual, Proteins (mg/gDW) 4.
 Missing data codes: 5. Remarks: #### DATAFILE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION:
 amino_acids_content.csv 1. Number of variables: 18 2. Number of
 cases/rows: 1170/65 3. Variable List: Plant Species, Individual, Asp
 (mg/gDW), Thr (mg/gDW), Ser (mg/gDW), Glu (mg/gDW), Pro (mg/gDW), Gly
 (mg/gDW), Ala (mg/gDW), Cys (mg/gDW), Val (mg/gDW), Ile (mg/gDW), Leu
 (mg/gDW), Tyr (mg/gDW), Phe (mg/gDW), His (mg/gDW), Lys (mg/gDW), Arg
 (mg/gDW) 4. Missing data codes: 5. Remarks: #### DATAFILE-SPECIFIC
 INFORMATION: sugar_content.csv 1. Number of variables: 6 2. Number of
 cases/rows: 390/65 3. Variable List: Plant Species, Individual, Glucose
 (mg/gDW), Fructose (mg/gDW), Sucrose (mg/gDW), Starch (mg/gDW) 4. Missing
 data codes: 5. Remarks: ##### SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1. Licence of
 reuse: Public Domain (CC0) 2. Special considerations regarding data reuse
 (if any): 3. If the data shared is of second use (ie, derived from data
 pre-existing the project), link to the primary data: No 4. Recommended
 citation for the dataset: Duhin, A.; Machado, R.A.R.; Turlings, T.C.J.;
 Röder, G. Early land plants: Plentiful but neglected nutritional resources
 for herbivores?, Dataset,
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4xgxd25dq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4xgxd25dq) 5. Data repository where the data is stored: Dryad ([https://datadryad.org/](https://datadryad.org/))