To achieve ecological and reproductive success, plants need to mitigate a multitude of stressors. The stressors encountered by plants are highly dynamic but typically vary predictably due to seasonality or correlations among stressors. As plants face physiological and ecological constraints in responses to stress, it can be beneficial for plants to evolve the ability to incorporate predictable patterns of stress in their life histories. Here, we discuss how plants predict adverse conditions, which plant strategies integrate predictability of biotic stress, and how such strategies can evolve. We propose that plants commonly optimise responses to correlated sequences or combinations of herbivores and pathogens, and that the predictability of these patterns is a key factor governing plant strategies in dynamic environments.

为了实现生态和繁殖成功，植物需要减轻多种压力源。植物遇到的压力源是高度动态的，但由于压力源之间的季节性或相关性，通常会发生可预测的变化。由于植物在应对压力时面临生理和生态限制，因此植物进化出将可预测的压力模式纳入其生活史的能力可能是有益的。在这里，我们讨论植物如何预测不利条件，哪些植物策略整合了生物胁迫的可预测性，以及这些策略如何演变。我们建议植物通常优化对相关序列或食草动物和病原体组合的反应，并且这些模式的可预测性是动态环境中控制植物策略的关键因素。