Plant cultivation and domestication brought innumerable benefits to humanity, but at the same time made these domestic varieties very dependent on external subsidies. This is partly because domestication acted as a selective force in natural populations, directly fixing useful traits for man, but indirectly fixing other genetically correlated ones that increase their vulnerability. Consequently, certain traits favored by domestication might not be adaptive, leading for example to domesticated varieties being less resilient to environmental stresses and more susceptible to herbivory than their wild congeners. This questions us about what combination of morphological, functional, defensive and nutritional traits that diverged during domestication would contribute today to modulate -individually or synergistically- its resilience to pests and extreme abiotic events (i.e.; drought). Using the domesticated strawberry Fragaria x ananassa and one of the wild congeners that gave rise to it, F. chiloensis, native to our area, we propose to quantify under a common scenario (field, side by side): (i) the allocation of resources to biomass, constitutive defenses and nutritional quality of vegetative and reproductive tissues, (ii) severity of damage exerted by insects and pathogens, and (iii) post-damage response capacity (i.e. resistance and tolerance) between Fragaria x ananassa and F. chiloensis. Given our growing dependence on high-yielding crops and the need to reduce the use of pesticides for a more sustainable agriculture, it is essential to identify critical functional traits that confer resistance to damage in order to develop new domesticated varieties that, while maintaining good productivity and fruit size, be more resistant and resilient to abiotic stress and damage by antagonists.

Invasive species are one of the most important threats to global biodiversity, in addition to habitat loss and climate change. In particular, the introduction of exotic ungulates has been shown to alter not only the composition and distribution of dominant plant species, but also, indirectly, the structure and function of communities and ecosystems. Indirect effects of exotic ungulates on native plant-animal interactions are primarily mediated by induced changes in post-browse plant morphology, growth, and physical and chemical defenses. However, few studies have evaluated the role of these induced defenses in various native plant-animal interactions, both antagonistic (plant-herbivore) and mutualistic (plant-pollinator/plant-frugivore). The Andean-Patagonian Forests are a good example of this, since currently cattle (Bos taurus) and introduced deer (Cervus elaphus and Dama dama) are the most common ungulates in these forests, altering the structure and composition of native plant communities. Our team is currently working on assessing the various consequences of exotic ungulate damage on (i) post-browsing defense strategies between native and invasive tree species, (ii) changes in the chemical and physical defenses of leaves and fruits with their consequent modification of biotic interactions with antagonists and mutualists, and (iii) changes in the decomposition rates of litter and associated communities.

From small pieces of damage to large defoliations, most of the herbivory occurring in our South American Temperate Forests is caused by herbivorous insects. The damage they impose is quite variable across time and space, and entails all plant tissues. We are currently working on various ecosystems and at different scales (field surveys, laboratory assays, common greenhouse experiments and managing forest stands), mostly focused on leaf damage, to learn how: (i) climate change may alter the performance, life cycle and predation risk of a native insect outbreak defoliator, Ormiscodes amphimone; (ii) nutrient addition modifies herbivore performance and plant-aphid-ant interactions, (iii) herbivory variability change across scales from individuals to populations, communities and biomes, or (iv) sustainable forest management with native tree species can be used as tools to increase herbivore insect biodiversity without harming forest health and productivity, among others.

Flower-dwelling predators make flowers dangerous foraging sites for pollinators, potentially acting as selective forces that model pollinator's anti-predator behavior. Several studies have shown that plant-pollinator interactions can be highly susceptible to the impact of a third trophic level, via consumptive (direct) and non-consumptive (indirect) effects that alter pollinator behavior and, ultimately, plant fitness. However, most tri-trophic interactions often are context-dependent, highlighting the importance of assessing flower reward levels, the behavior of the complete pollinator assemblage and overall top-down effect on plant fitness. So far, though observational and manipulative experiments, we studied the effect of the flower-dwelling crab spider Misumenops pallidus (Thomisidae) on several native perennial herbs Chloraea alpina (Orchideaceae), Anemone multifida (Ranunculaceae) y Alstroemeria aurea (Alstroemeriaceae) in Northwestern Patagonia, showing from neutral to strong top-down fitness costs depending on the system.

Beyond biogeographic patterns, most variation in plant tissue damage is driven by plant traits that confer resistance and tolerance to damage, changing those across tissues, phenological and ontogenetical stages, environmental gradients, populations, ecosystems, and more. During my PhD. and afterwards I have worked assessing the role of plant ontogeny on the phenotypic expression of several plant traits involved in both, direct and indirect defenses. In addition, I studied the consequences of such ontogenetic trajectories for herbivore’s host selection, performance and immune defense against parasitoids, as well as the interaction between plant and herbivore ontogenetic trends. Currently, I’m seeking for undergraduate or graduate students that would like to expand this research using native plant species from our Southern Temperate Forests.