Member Institutions:

• Bowling Green State U.
• Cleveland State U.
• Kent State U.
• Medical College of Ohio
• Miami U.
• The Ohio State U.
• Ohio U.
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Toledo
• Wright State U.
• Youngstown State U.

Research Interests

Our lab studies the physiology, ecology, and evolution of induced plant resistance to herbivores, pathogens, and other environmental stresses, in the context of phenotypic plasticity. Currently, we are examining the environmental regulation, defensive role, and genetic variation of proteinase inhibitors, glucosinolates, and other defenses in Arabidopsis thaliana, in wild and cultivated Brassica species, in the invasive plant Alliaria petiolata, and other species. In earlier work, I identified some of the biochemical and morphological responses of plants to mechanical stresses (such as wind) that can protect them from mechanical damage, and have cross-protective effects against herbivores. Our studies are typically placed in a cost-benefit framework and incorporate genetic mutants, transgenic plants, and phenotypic manipulations (using phytohormones, for example) into studies in order to better address ecological questions. Work in my laboratory includes the isolation and quantification of plant chemical defenses at the molecular and biochemical level, bioassays of plant defenses to insects and pathogens, and the growth and measurement of experimental plant material in the greenhouse and in the field. A current focus in the lab is on the reciprocal cross-effects on plant resistance of the activation of systemic acquired resistance of plants against pathogens mediated by salicylic acid and induced systemic resistance against insects mediated by jasmonic acid. This project incorporates mutant and transgenic A. thaliana altered in their ability to properly induce defenses. Other projects involve the specificity of chemical defense induction in Brassica species in response to different defense elicitors, effects of plant age on the degree of defense induction in plants, and examinations of the local and regional genetic diversity of A. petiolata using molecular techniques.

Selected Publications

• Cipollini, D. F., and Sipe, M. 2001. Jasmonic acid treatment and mammalian herbivory differentially affect chemical defense expression and growth of Brassica kaber. Chemoecology (in press)
• Cipollini, D.F., and J. Bergelson. 2001. Plant density and nutrient availability constrain the constitutive and wound-induced expression of trypsin inhibitors in Brassica napus L. Journal of Chemical Ecology 27: 593-610.
• Redman, A., Cipollini, D.F., and J.C. Schultz. 2001. Fitness costs of jasmonic acid induced defense in tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum. Oecologia 126: 380-385.
• Cipollini, D.F., and J. Bergelson. 2000. Environmental and developmental regulation of trypsin inhibitoractivity in Brassica napus L. Journal of Chemical Ecology 26: 1411-1422.
• Cipollini, D.F. and J.C. Schultz. 1999. Exploring cost constraints on stem elongation in plants using phenotypic manipulation. American Naturalist 153: 236-242.
• Cipollini, D.F. 1999. Costs to flowering of the production of a mechanically hardened phenotype in Brassica napus L. International Journal of Plant Sciences 160: 735-741.
• Cipollini, D.F., and A.M. Redman. 1999. Age-dependent effects of jasmonic acid treatment and wind exposure on foliar oxidase activity and insect resistance in tomato. Journal of Chemical Ecology 25:271-281.
• Lentz, K., and D.F. Cipollini. 1998. Effect of light and simulated herbivory on growth of endanger northeastern bulrush, Scirpus ancistrochaetus Schuyler. Plant Ecology 139: 125-131.
• Cipollini, D.F. 1998. The induction of soluble peroxidase activity in leaves of bean plants by wind-induced perturbation. American Journal of Botany 85: 1586-1591.
• Cipollini, D.F. 1998. Induced defenses and phenotypic plasticity. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 13: 200.
• Cipollini, D.F. 1997. Wind-induced mechanical stimulation increases pest resistance in common bean. Oecologia 111: 84-90.

In Review

• Cipollini, D. Does competition magnify the fitness costs of induced responses in Arabidopsis Thaliana? A manipulative approach. Oecologia
• Cipollini, D., and J. Bergelson. Plant density affects growth and herbivore damage of Brassica napus in the field. Plant Ecology

Dr. Cipollini's homepage
Wright State University homepage