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Abstract
The degree of herbivory and the effectiveness of defense varies widely among plant
species. Resource availability in the environment is proposed as the major determinant
of both the amount and type of plant defense. When resource are limited, plants with
inherently slow growth are favored over those with fast growth rates; slow rates in
turn favor large investments in antiherbivore defenses. Leaf lifetime, also determined
by resource availability, affects the relative advantages of defenses with different
turnover rates. Relative limitation of different resources also constrains the types
of defenses. The proposals are compared with other theories on the evolution of plant
defenses.