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Summary: LETTER
Latitudinal patterns in plant defense: evolution of cardenolides,
their toxicity and induction following herbivory
Sergio Rasmann* and
Anurag A. Agrawal
Department of Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology, Cornell
University, Corson Hall, Ithaca,
NY 14853 2701, USA
*Correspondence and present
address: Department of Ecology and
Evolution, B^atiment Biophore,
University of Lausanne, CH 1015
Lausanne, Switzerland. E-mail:
sgr37@cornell.edu or
srasmann@gmail.com
Abstract
Attempts over the past 50 years to explain variation in the abundance, distribution and diversity of plant
secondary compounds gave rise to theories of plant defense. Remarkably, few phylogenetically robust tests of
these long-standing theories have been conducted. Using >50 species of milkweed (Asclepias spp.), we show
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