Toxin tolerance across landscapes: Ecological exposure not a prerequisite

Little is known about the tolerances of mammalian herbivores to plant specialized metabolites across landscapes. We investigated the tolerances of two species of herbivorous woodrats, Neotoma lepida (desert woodrat) and Neotoma bryanti (Bryant's woodrat) to creosote bush Larrea tridentata, a widely distributed shrub with a highly toxic resin. Woodrats were sampled from 13 locations both with and without creosote bush across a 900 km transect in the US southwest. We tested whether these woodrat populations consume creosote bush using plant metabarcoding of faeces and quantified their tolerance to creosote bush through feeding trials using chow amended with creosote resin. Toxin tolerance was analysed in the context of population structure across collection sites with microsatellite analyses. Genetic differentiation among woodrats collected from different locations was minimal within either species. Tolerance differed substantially between the two species, with N. lepida persisting 20% longer than N. bryanti in feeding trials with creosote resin. Furthermore, in both species, tolerance to creosote resin was similar among woodrats near or within creosote bush habitat. In both species, woodrats collected >25 km from creosote had markedly lower tolerances to creosote resin compared to animals from within the range of creosote bush. The results imply that mammalian herbivores are adapted to the specialized metabolites of plants in their diet, and that this tolerance can extend several kilometres outside of the range of dietary items. That is, direct ecological exposure to the specialized chemistry of particular plant species is not a prerequisite for tolerance to these compounds. These findings lay the groundwork for additional studies to investigate the genetic mechanisms underlying toxin tolerance and to identify how these mechanisms are maintained across landscape-level scales in mammalian herbivores. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Automated summary

This study investigated the tolerances of two species of herbivorous woodrats to creosote bush, a widely distributed shrub with a highly toxic resin. The results showed that tolerance to creosote resin differed significantly between the two species and was affected by the distance from creosote bush. The findings suggest that mammalian herbivores can adapt to the specialized metabolites of plants in their diet, and this tolerance can extend several kilometers outside of the range of dietary items.