Rhizobia-legume symbiosis mediates direct and indirect interactions between plants, herbivores and their parasitoids.

ABSTRACT: Microorganisms associated with plant roots significantly impact the quality and quantity of plant defences. However, the bottom-up effects of soil microbes on the aboveground multitrophic interactions remain largely under studied. To address this gap, we investigated the chemically-mediated effects of nitrogen-fixing rhizobia on legume-herbivore-parasitoid multitrophic interactions. To address this, we initially examined the cascading effects of the rhizobia bean association on herbivore caterpillars, their parasitoids, and subsequently investigated how rhizobia influence on plant volatiles and extrafloral nectar. Our goal was to understand how these plant-mediated effects can affect parasitoids. Lima bean plants (Phaseoulus lunatus) inoculated with rhizobia exhibited better growth,

SUBMITTER: Bustos-Segura C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10957422 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature