Ecology of plant-herbivore communities: a fungal component?

We consider how microorganisms may alter conventional theories of the organization of plant-herbivore communities. We focus on endophytic fungi and their role in mediating interactions among herbivores, their host plants, and natural enemies. We propose hypotheses about the role of microbes in plant-herbivore communities and suggest ways to test these hypotheses. An initial approach to the overwhelming complexity of interacting species is to view species as components of functional groups, be they micro- or macroscopic, that potentially affect the ecology and evolution of host plants.