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Induced volatile chemistry and arthropod predation across a tree diversity gradient

ABSTRACT: Plant volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play a key role in defense against herbivores and in mediating multitrophic interactions. Yet, how surrounding plant diversity modulates these responses in forest trees remains poorly understood. We examined the effects of tree species richness on induced VOC emissions and arthropod predation in Quercus petraea in a biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiment. Individual branches were repeatedly induced with methyl jasmonate and paired with non-induced controls. VOCs were collected using PDMS tubes after the first and last induction rounds and analyzed by TD-GC-MS. Predation was quantified using artificial clay caterpillars. Jasmonate induction strongly altered VOC profiles, with effects increasing after repeated treatments. Tree species richness modulated VOC composition during the first sampling period, particularly affecting sesquiterpenes. However, absolute VOC compound class emissions did not explain variation in arthropod predation probability, while class-level composition showed only weak and inconsistent effects across sampling periods. These results suggest that indirect defense outcomes in terms of predator responses are unlikely to depend on overall VOC emission strength or broad chemical classes but may instead be mediated by fine-scale properties of volatile blends.

INSTRUMENT(S): SCION TQ

ORGANISM(S): Quercus Petraea (ncbitaxon:38865)

SUBMITTER: Gabriela A. S. Escaliante

PROVIDER: MSV000100870 | MassIVE | Tue Feb 17 08:17:00 GMT 2026

REPOSITORIES: MassIVE

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Project description:The interaction of an array of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) termed bacterial volatile compounds (BVCs) with plants is now a major area of study under the umbrella of plant-microbe interactions. Many growth systems have been developed to mediate the investigation of these interactions in vitro. However, each of these systems have their benefits and drawbacks with respect to one another and can greatly influence the end-point interpretation of the BVC effect on plant physiology. To address the need for novel growth systems in BVC-Plant interactions our study investigated the use of a passively-ventilated growth system, made possible via Microbox® growth chambers, to determine the effect of BVCs emitted by six bacterial isolates from the genera Bacillus, Serratia and Pseudomonas. Solid-phase microextraction/GC-MS was utilized to determine the BVC profile of each bacterial isolate when cultured in three different growth media each with varying carbon content. 70 BVCs were identified in total with alcohols and alkanes being the most abundant. When cultured in tryptic soy broth, all six isolates were capable of producing 2,5-dimethylpyrazine, however BVC emission associated with this media were deemed to have negative effects on plant growth. The two remaining media types, namely Methyl Red-Voges Proskeur and Murashige and Skoog, were selected for bacterial growth in co-cultivation experiments with Solanum tuberosum cv. ‘Golden Wonder’. The BVC emissions of Bacillus and Serratia isolates cultured on MR-VP induced alterations in the transcriptional landscape of potato across all treatments with 956 significantly differentially expressed genes. Our results indicate that this novel approach to determining BVC-mediated growth effects on plants is a viable alternative and induced differential growth-promotion based on bacterial isolate and the respective media type on which they were cultured. Surprisingly, genes associated with plant defence were often observed to be downregulated in our system whereas genes associated with photosynthesis and plant cell division were upregulated.

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Induced volatile chemistry and arthropod predation across a tree diversity gradient

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