Plant-Insect Interactions under Stress Conditions

Plants and insects coexist in dynamic networks shaped by environmental pressures. When plants encounter abiotic stressors such as drought, heat, ultraviolet radiation or nutrient imbalance, their physiology and chemistry shift, altering insect feeding, development and survival. Stress can enhance concentrations of defensive compounds or change nutrient allocation, modifying host quality for herbivores. Some insects exploit stress-induced plant vigour, while others suffer reduced performance when secondary metabolites rise. In addition, mutualistic soil microbes and mycorrhizal fungi may modulate plant resistance or resilience under extreme conditions, further influencing trophic interactions. At higher trophic levels, predators and parasitoids respond to changes in plant-herbivore communication signals, with stress potentially disrupting biological control. Understanding these interactions is critical as climate change intensifies abiotic extremes, threatening crop productivity and ecosystem services. Integrative research now spans molecular to field scales, revealing how stress responses cascade through food webs and offering strategies to enhance sustainable pest management by harnessing natural plant defences and beneficial microbes.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have examined how combined water-deficit and temperature stress shape insect performance and survival. One investigation of potato aphids under moderate drought and high day–night temperatures demonstrated that drought exacerbates heat effects to reduce aphid survival and reproduction, even though cooler nights partially aid recovery. The work highlights the necessity of studying multiple stressors in concert to predict insect responses under climate change.

Long-term analyses of cereal aphids and armyworms under shifting climatic and agronomic conditions have linked rising fertilizer input and spring temperature increases to escalating aphid damage on wheat, while armyworm dynamics respond more strongly to precipitation patterns. This foundational research underscores how global change factors interact to influence pest outbreaks and informs ecologically based management under future environmental scenarios.

Plant-Insect Interactions under Stress Conditions publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in plant-insect interactions under stress conditions across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Abiotic stress: Non-living environmental factors such as drought, temperature extremes or UV radiation that challenge plant homeostasis.

Secondary metabolites: Organic compounds produced by plants (e.g. phenolics, terpenoids) that often serve defensive roles against herbivores and pathogens.

Induced resistance: Enhanced plant defensive capacity triggered by prior exposure to stress, pests or beneficial microbes, reducing subsequent herbivore attack.

Bottom-up effects: Ecological influences originating from changes in primary producers (plants) that cascade to affect herbivores and higher trophic levels.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: Beneficial soil fungi that form symbiotic associations with plant roots, improving nutrient uptake and modulating stress responses.

References

1. Do changes in Lactuca sativa metabolic performance, induced by mycorrhizal symbionts and leaf UV-B irradiation, play a role towards tolerance to a polyphagous insect pest?. Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2023).
2. Microbe‐induced plant resistance against insect pests depends on timing of inoculation but is consistent across climatic conditions. Functional Ecology (2024).
3. Bottom-Up Effects of Drought-Stressed Cotton Plants on Performance and Feeding Behavior of Aphis gossypii. Plants (2023).
4. Population dynamics and associated factors of cereal aphids and armyworms under global change. Scientific Reports (2015).
5. Drought and heat waves associated with climate change affect performance of the potato aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae. Scientific Reports (2019).