Chlorogenic acid as an antiherbivore defence of willows against leaf beetles

Abstract In the leaves of 13 Finnish willow species, the content of a phenolic, chlorogenic acid, was found to vary from 0 up to 18 mg g−1 D.W. Effects of pure chlorogenic acid on insect feeding behaviour were tested using four common leaf beetle species which are in the field mainly found on willows with low‐chlorogenic acid leaves. One species, Lochmaea capreae L., was invariably deterred by pure chlorogenic acid applied in naturally occurring concentrations on the willow leaves. Accordingly, in 2‐choice laboratory feeding trials L. capreae was found to prefer low‐chlorogenic acid leaves of four willow species over high‐chlorogenic acid leaves of Salix pentandra L. and S. myrsinifolia Salisb. When presented on the leaves of S. phylicifolia L, pure chlorogenic acid inhibited also the feeding by Phratora polaris Sp.‐Schn. Instead, chlorogenic acid had no significant effect on Ph. polaris when it was presented on the leaves of another willow S. cinerea L. In laboratory, Ph. polaris did not show general preference for willow species with low chlorogenic acid content in their leaves. Thus, the response of Ph. polaris to chlorogenic acid seems to depend on the plant species. Apparently variation in other traits such as leaf hairyness may easily override the potential effect of chlorogenic acid content on Ph. polaris. To two other leaf beetle species, Galerucella lineola F. and Plagiodera versicolora Laich., chlorogenic acid is an ineffective deterrent even at unnaturally high concentrations. In laboratory, G. lineola and P. versicolora did not prefer willows with low chlorogenic acid content in their leaves. Thus, among four studied leaf beetle species, only L. capreae seems to be clearly affected by this phenolic. Therefore, overall importance of chlorogenic acid as a defence against willow‐feeding leaf beetles appears to be very limited.