Plant volatile emission depends on the species composition of the neighboring plant community.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Plants grow in multi-species communities rather than monocultures. Yet most studies on the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from plants in response to insect herbivore feeding focus on one plant species. Whether the presence and identity of neighboring plants or plant community attributes, such as plant species richness and plant species composition, affect the herbivore-induced VOC emission of a focal plant is poorly understood.

Methods

We established experimental plant communities in pots in the greenhouse where the focal plant species, red clover (Trifolium pratense), was grown in monoculture, in a two species mixture together with Geranium pratense or Dactylis glomerata, or in a mixture of all three species. We measured VOC emission of the focal p

SUBMITTER: Kigathi RN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6366091 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature