Data from: Characterizing the causes and consequences of calcium oxalate crystal presence in Vitis riparia
Data files
Jan 13, 2026 version files 34.05 KB
-
bioassay_1_for_pub.csv
3.50 KB
-
bioassay_2_for_pub.csv
23.60 KB
-
induction_data_for_pub.csv
2.25 KB
-
README.md
4.69 KB
Abstract
Calcium oxalate biomineralization in plants is phylogenetically widespread and morphologically diverse, but the function of these inorganic crystals is an area of active debate. Indeed, the variety of environmental conditions that produce the crystals, as well as their failure to provide consistent antiherbivore defense across plant and herbivore species, suggests that different crystal morphologies might have different functions. Using Vitis riparia, the riverbank grape, we experimentally investigated the environmental influence of excess calcium and simulated herbivory on the formation of calcium oxalate druse and raphide needle crystals in plant leaves. We also investigated the putative defensive function of these crystals using a no-choice herbivore bioassay, manipulating herbivore diet composition to test for impacts of crystal shape on herbivore growth, both on its own and with plant chemistry. We found that the addition of calcium to V. riparia soil increased the density of both raphide and druse crystals in leaves. Contrary to expectations, the herbivory treatment decreased the density of raphide crystals in leaves, and V. riparia-derived crystals did not impact the weight gain, time to pupation, nor the survival of moth larvae. Our multifaceted test of the formation and function of calcium oxalate crystals in demonstrates that abiotic factors are a relatively stronger determinant of crystal production, and, contrary to hundreds of years of speculation on their function, these crystals do not seem to mediate plant-insect interactions in all plant taxa.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qfb
Description of the data and file structure
To test the defensive function of calcium oxalate crystals in Vitis riparia, we performed two bioassay experiments and a greenhouse induction experiment
Files and variables
File: bioassay_1_for_pub.csv
Description: data associated with bioassay 1, in which Spodoptera exigua larvae were fed leaves from the control and calcium treatments of the induction experiment.
Variables
- sample: name of larva sample, including which treatment it was from and which replicate it was
- day_0: mass of larva (in mg) when introduced to the leaf cup
- day_1: mass of larva (in mg) after one day of feeding
- day_2: mass of larva (in mg) after two days of feeding
- day_3: mass of larva (in mg) after three days of feeding
- day_4: mass of larva (in mg) after four days of feeding
- died: whether or not the larva died by the end of the bioassay (0 = lived, 1 = died)
- change: change in mass between day_0 and day_4, in mg
File: bioassay_2_for_pub.csv
Description: data associated with bioassay 1, in which Spodoptera exigua larvae were each fed with one of six possible artificial diet treatments
Variables
- sample: name of larva sample, including treatment and replicate
- rep: replicate within treatment
- tray: tray the diet cup was stored in (samples were randomly assigned to trays)
- X13.Nov: initial mass of larva in mg, on Nov 13th, 2023
- X14.Nov: mass of larva on November 14th, in mg
- X15.Nov: mass of larva on November 15th, in mg
- X16.Nov: mass of larva on November 16th, in mg
- X17.Nov: mass of larva on November 17th, in mg
- X18.Nov: mass of larva on November 18th, in mg
- X19.Nov: mass of larva on November 19th, in mg
- X20.Nov: mass of larva on November 20th, in mg
- X21.Nov: mass of larva on November 21st, in mg
- X22.Nov: mass of larva on November 22nd, in mg
- X23.Nov: mass of larva on November 23rd, in mg
- X24.Nov: mass of larva on November 24th, in mg
- X25.Nov: mass of larva on November 25th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- X26.Nov: mass of larva on November 26th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- X27.Nov: mass of larva on November 27th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- X28.Nov: mass of larva on November 28th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- X29.Nov: mass of larva on November 29th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- X30.Nov: mass of larva on November 30th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- X1.Dec: mass of larva on December 1st, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- X4.Dec: mass of larva on December 4th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- X6.Dec: mass of larva on December 6th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- X7.Dec: mass of larva on December 7th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- X12.Dec: mass of larva on December 12th, in mg. NAs indicate the larva was no longer alive
- died.prematurely: whether or not the larva died before eating any of the provided diet
- sacrificed: whether or not the larva was sacrificed for dissection before the end of the bioassay
- pupated: whether or not the larva successfully pupated
- died: whether or not the larva did before pupation
- pupal_mass_wet: wet mass of the pupated larva in mg
- chem.treat: whether or not the sample received the chemistry treatment
- raph.treat: whether or not the sample received the V. riparia-derived CaOx treatment
- amorph.treat: whether or not the sample received the amorphous CaOx treatment
- max: maximum mass achieved by the larva, in mg
- percent.growth: percent growth of the larva
File: induction_data_for_pub.csv
Description: data associated with the induction experiment in which V. riparia vines were subjected to three possible watering and herbivory regimes, and the resulting leaves were examined to determine the effect of those treatments on calcium oxalate crystal abundance.
Variables
- plant.code: unique code given to each leaf
- treatment: treatment of the plant the leaf came from
- observer: member of the authorship team who took each measurement
- num.raphides: number of calcium oxalate raphide bundles counted per standardized unit area
- num.druse: number of calcium oxalate druse bundles counted per standardized unit area
Code/software
The data is stored as .csv files, so it should be viewable in google sheets or as text files