Chemical defences against herbivores

This chapter focuses on the recent and emerging research involving chemical defences against herbivory in aquatic primary producers. It provides an overview of plant chemical defence theories and highlights recent research on aquatic primary producers addressing a number of aspects of these theories, concluding with new chemical approaches to tackle the questions and suggestions for future research directions. It explains that aquatic primary producers are a taxonomically and functionally diverse group of organisms that includes macroalgae, microalgae, and vascular plants. It also states that despite the fact that aquatic primary producers constitute a large and diverse group of organisms that vary in their evolutionary histories, selection for chemical defences to resist or reduce grazing are commonplace across the phylogenetic boundaries.