Chemical communication between plants and insects

Abstract

Chemical communication between plants and insectsThe chemical communication between plants and insects plays a pivotal role in shaping plant-insect interactions and ecological networks, making it a vital component in both natural and agricultural ecosystems. Despite the considerable advancements in the field of chemical ecology (Meinwald & Eisner, 2008), numerous challenges remain due to its interdisciplinary nature (encompassing evolutionary biology, neurobiology, chemistry, animal behavior, and network ecology), as well as the complexity of chemical communication (including mediating mutualistic and antagonistic relationships, and multifunctional roles at the community level). In this special issue of the Journal of Systematics and Evolution, we present a collection of 10 papers addressing these challenges through original research and comprehensive reviews of relevant subfields. The contributions can be organized into four primary themes: (i) community-level communication theory (Zu et al., 2022) and its application to plant-pollinator communities (Yang et al., 2022); (ii) the evolutionary history of communication from a phylogenetic and macroevolutionary perspective (Martel et al., 2021;Schwery et al., 2022); (iii) various communication types, including plant-pollinator (Martel et al., 2021), plant-pest (Fang et al., 2023, and plant-fungi-insect interactions (Xu et al., 2023); and (iv) an exploration of different communication factors such as distyly (Zeng et al., 2022), odor dynamics (Feng et al., 2022), chemical structures (Zhang et al., 2022, and the impact of herbicides (Ramos et al., 2022).

Quantifying various aspects of chemical diversity in hybrid plants can help understanding ecological consequences of hybridization

“…However, some degree of conservatism in the signals among related plants is needed so they would represent reliable cues to natural enemies of herbivores. Otherwise, the signals serving as indirect defenses may be too diverse to reliably convey the information (Zu et al, 2023). In contrast to direct defenses, high variation in VOC profiles between parental and hybrid plants can lead to a poorer parasitoid recruitment, and potentially worse indirect defense against specialized herbivores (Coll-Aráoz et al, 2020).…”

The Plant Volatile-Sensing Mechanism of Insects and Its Utilization

“…Insects and plants have co-evolved for hundreds of millions of years [ 1 ]. During this evolutionary process, insects have developed a unique olfactory system that distinguishes plant volatiles from other environmental odors [ 2 , 3 ]. Plant volatile organic chemicals (PVOCs) are essential chemical information links for insect-searching host plants and locating habitat, and play critical roles in the interdependent relationship between plants and insects.…”