TY - JOUR T1 - Interactive effect matters: a combination of herbivory degree and the ratio of generalist to specialist better predicts evolution of plant defense JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2022.01.13.476260 SP - 2022.01.13.476260 AU - Yuanfei Pan AU - Xiaoyun Pan AU - Lucas Del Bianco Faria AU - Bo Li Y1 - 2022/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/01/15/2022.01.13.476260.abstract N2 - Herbivory degree and the ratio of generalist to specialist herbivores have long been treated as two important but independent factors in shaping the evolution of plant defense. However, this assumption of independency is poorly supported and has resulted in great controversy in explaining the patterns of plant defense. Here we investigated the possible interaction between herbivory degree and generalist-to-specialist ratio using a cost-benefit model of defense evolution in plants. Our results showed that, with increasing generalist herbivore proportion, plant defense investment increases when herbivory degree is low and decreases when herbivory degree is high. These results provide the first theoretical support for the interactive effect of herbivory degree and ratio of generalist/specialist affecting plant defense, which integrate many of the previous results (e.g. latitudinal patterns of plant defense and defense evolution of invasive plants) and put them into a more general theoretical context.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -