Lucia Zappalà

Plants developed a series of defence mechanisms to counteract the attack of herbivores. These can impact on food‐webs at various trophic levels, in both natural and managed ecosystems, such as crops. The biochemical and ecological bases behind these processes are reviewed here by highlighting the differences in direct and indirect, constitutive and induced defences. In integrated pest management (IPM), several pest control tools are applied in an economically sound way in order to increase the crop resilience and reduce reliance on synthetic pesticides. Plant resistance is thus a crucial aspect of preventive pest control strategies in several agroecosystems, including tomato. In this context, we review the current literature dealing with the physiology and biochemistry of tomato plants in terms of metabolite pathways and multitrophic interactions. We also describe recent advances in plant defence‐based control tools obtained by studying the multitrophic interactions between pests and plants in the tomato system.