5th International Conference on
Plant Science
Scientific Program
Daniel A. Herms
Vice President of Research and Development The Davey Tree Expert Company, USA
Title: The dilemma of plants: to grow or defend
Biography:
Dr. Daniel A. Herms, vice president for research and development at The Davey Tree Expert Company, was elected as Fellow in 2018. He is internationally known for research on theory and ecology of plant defense and its application to management of insect pests of trees and shrubs. Herms was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1959 and raised in Portsmouth, Ohio, where he worked for the Herms Floral Company and Greenhouses. He received his B.S. in landscape horticulture from Ohio State University (OSU), where his interest in entomology was sparked by the animated teaching of Dave Horn. He earned an M.S. in 1984 from OSU with dual majors in entomology and horticulture, conducting his research in the lab of Dave Nielsen. From 1984 to 1996, Herms worked at Dow Gardens, a public display garden in Midland, Michigan, directing the IPM and research programs.
Abstract
Physiological and ecological constraints play key roles in the evolution of plant growth patterns, especially in relation to defenses against herbivores. Phenotypic and life history theories are unified within the growth-differentiation balance (gdb) framework, forming an integrated system of theories explaining and predicting patterns of plant defense and competitive interactions in ecological and evolutionary time. Plant activity at the cellular level can be classified as growth (cell division and enlargement) of differentiation (chemical and morphological changes leading to cell maturation and specialization). The gdb hypothesis of plant defense is premised upon a physiological trade-off between growth and differentiation processes. The trade-off between growth and defense exists because secondary metabolism and structural reinforcement are physiologically constrained in dividing and enlarging cells.
- Epigenetics
- Plant ecology
- Plant evolution
- Plant hormones
- Plant biochemistry
- Systematic botany
- Late modern botany
- Plant Biotechnology
- Plant anatomy and morphology
- Plants and Climate Change- Overcoming Measures
