Insect exuviae as soil amendment affect flower reflectance and increase flower production and plant volatile emission.

ABSTRACT: Soil composition and herbivory are two environmental factors that can affect plant traits including flower traits, thus potentially affecting plant-pollinator interactions. Importantly, soil composition and herbivory may interact in these effects, with consequences for plant fitness. We assessed the main effects of aboveground insect herbivory and soil amendment with exuviae of three different insect species on visual and olfactory traits of Brassica nigra plants, including interactive effects. We combined various methodological approaches including gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, spectroscopy and machine learning to evaluate changes in flower morphology, colour and the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Soil amended with insect exuviae increased the total number of flowe

SUBMITTER: Barragan-Fonseca KY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10107842 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature