Recent Trends in the Olfactory Responses of Insect Natural Enemies to Plant Volatiles

Abstract

The area of plant volatile signaling in multitrophic interactions has developed one of the fascinating and fastest growing fields of research. It has been reported that plant leaves generally release minor quantities of volatile compounds, but when a plant is damaged by insects, several more volatiles are released. Numerous studies have demonstrated the dynamic role of herbivoredamaged plants in the attraction of natural enemies (predators and parasitoids). Volatile plant compounds released in response to insect feeding serve as a chemical signal for herbivore natural enemies. Volatiles released by insect-damaged plants function as attractants and affect the behavior of the natural enemies of herbivorous insects. They also display diverse effects on insect behaviors and are also used as foraging cues by parasitoids and predators. After damaged by phytophagous insects, some host plants could attract parasitoids and predators as an indirect defense. They can also induce defense responses in adjacent plants. Trees of some species are reported to produce volatile signals that affect the behavior of natural enemies. A summary on the recent trends published since 2000 to date on the plant volatiles in relation to insect natural enemies was specified. The use of plant volatiles in integrated pest management programs was also discussed.

Olfactory response of the omnivorous mirid bug Nesidiocoris tenuis to eggplants infested by prey: Specificity in prey developmental stages and prey species

“…Here, we presented a case study showing that plants attract predators using prey-infested plant volatiles even when the damage was slight. Many carnivorous natural enemies of herbivorous arthropods are attracted to volatiles from plants infested by their prey (Takabayashi and Dicke, 1996;Pare and Tumlinson, 1999;Arimura et al, 2009;Dicke, 2009;Reddy, 2012;Takabayashi, 2014). Studies on the relationships between the damage levels and intensities of the predator attraction in agricultural fields are needed for the effective use of the plants' induced indirect defense for pest control.…”

“…Plants infested by herbivorous arthropods emit volatiles that attract carnivorous natural enemies of the herbivores (for reviews: Takabayashi and Dicke, 1996;Pare and Tumlinson, 1999;Arimura et al, 2009;Dicke, 2009;Reddy, 2012;Takabayashi, 2014). Infested plant volatiles indicate the presence of their prey on an infested plant, as volatiles can potentially convey information on species, abundance, and even the developmental-stage of the currently infesting herbivores (Takabayashi and Dicke, 1996;Arimura et al, 2009;Takabayashi, 2014).…”

Niche separation of pollen beetle parasitoids

“…Parasitoids are known to employ all their senses in this process, using highly volatile chemicals as long-distance attractants, and further olfactory, gustatory, visual and vibrational cues as short distance stimulants (Vinson, 1998). Most strategies involve odors from plants attacked by their host (Fatouros et al, 2012;Reddy, 2012;Wäschke et al, 2013). Many plants change their odor emission after damage and release a number of volatiles that are induced specifically in response to herbivore oviposition (Dicke and Baldwin, 2010;Hilker and Meiners, 2011) and larval feeding (Poelman et al, 2009).…”

“…Many plants change their odor emission after damage and release a number of volatiles that are induced specifically in response to herbivore oviposition (Dicke and Baldwin, 2010;Hilker and Meiners, 2011) and larval feeding (Poelman et al, 2009). These compounds are reliable cues since they indicate immediate host presence, and are thus important in attraction of natural enemies to arthropod herbivores (De Moraes et al, 1998;Dicke et al, 2003;Turlings and Wäckers, 2004;Reddy, 2012). Natural selection should therefore, favor the ability of parasitoids to differentiate between infested and uninfested plant parts by odors.…”

Plants under dual attack : consequences for plant chemistry and parasitoid behavior

“…Moreover, our knowledge on the mechanisms of defense induction indicates that simultaneous or sequential attack by different herbivore species, particularly when they belong to different feeding guilds, can have important consequences for the ecological dynamics of a tritrophic system (for a review see Poelman et al, 2008b;Dicke et al, 2009). It is widely recognized that carnivorous insects exploit plant volatiles that are produced in response to feeding damage as a navigational system for prey/host location, and much attention has been given to the roles of induced VOCs in mediating tritrophic interactions (Sabelis & Van De Baan, 1983;Turlings et al, 1995;Heil, 2008;Dicke & Baldwin, 2010;Reddy, 2012).…”