Abstract

As the base of most food webs, plants are dominant players feeding diverse herbivores from insects and mammals, including humans. In addition to driving evolution in both plants and herbivores, these interactions have consequences across scales, from individual physiology to community and ecosystem processes. Thus, the study of plant-herbivore interactions has fundamental and important implications for both basic and applied research. The 14th Gordon Research Conference on Plant-Herbivore Interactions (GRC PHI) will cover a wide range of topics on plant-herbivore interactions. These include how herbivores find, assess and utilize different plant species at the individual and population level, the contribution of microbes to an herbivorous lifestyle, plus how plants defend themselves from herbivores. Additionally, it will inform how plant-herbivore interactions influence multitrophic interactions and network ecology, reveal mechanisms plants and herbivore employ to live and thrive in toxic habitats and how humans impact, both negatively and positively, the nature of plant-herbivore interactions. The GRC PHI conference prides itself in creating a congenial atmosphere, which facilitates far-reaching discussions across a broad range of expertise and levels of experience. The collection of speakers come from across the globe and represents a diversity of ideas and knowledge. The 2019 GRC PHI will again feature a Power Hour, aimed at supporting the careers of female scientists, and be preceded by a Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) specifically tailored to early-career scientists. If your research examines any aspect of plant-herbivore interactions, you won’t want to miss this exciting meeting. We welcome you to join us in Ventura, California!