“…Aspens are deciduous, early succession trees that are widely distributed in forests of the Northern hemisphere (Rogers et al, 2019 ). Aspen trees have also been used as models in studies of intraspecific differences in defence chemistry (Häikiö et al, 2009 ; Hartikainen et al, 2009 ; Keefover‐Ring et al, 2014 ; Lindroth & Hwang, 1996 ; Rubert‐Nason & Lindroth, 2021 ), inter‐ and intraspecific variation in defence genes (Bernhardsson et al, 2013 ; Wang et al, 2016a , 2016b , 2020 ), environmental modulation of metabolic priorities (Bandau et al, 2015 , 2021 ; Cole et al, 2021 ; Cope et al, 2021 ; Decker et al, 2017 ; Dettlaff et al, 2018 ; Gaur et al, 2022 ), and molecular mechanisms involved in induced defence responses (Barbehenn & Peter Constabel, 2011 ; Barrios‐San Martín et al, 2014 ; Ramírez et al, 2004 ; Ullah et al, 2018 , 2019 ). They are also regarded as strong foundation species in temperate and boreal forests (Cole et al, 2021 ), hosting genotype‐specific communities of arthropods (Barker et al, 2019 ; Robinson et al, 2012 ), and pathogens (Albrectsen et al, 2010 ; Bandau et al, 2015 ; von Bargen et al, 2020 ).…”