Parasitoids select plants more heavily infested with their caterpillar hosts: a new approach to aid interpretation of plant headspace volatiles
Article
Girling, Robbie D., Stewart-Jones, Alex, Dherbecourt, Julie, Staley, Joanna T., Wright, Wright and Poppy, Guy M.. 2011. "Parasitoids select plants more heavily infested with their caterpillar hosts: a new approach to aid interpretation of plant headspace volatiles." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 278 (1718), pp. 2646-2653. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.2725
Article Title | Parasitoids select plants more heavily infested with their caterpillar hosts: a new approach to aid interpretation of plant headspace volatiles |
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ERA Journal ID | 2111 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Girling, Robbie D., Stewart-Jones, Alex, Dherbecourt, Julie, Staley, Joanna T., Wright, Wright and Poppy, Guy M. |
Journal Title | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Journal Citation | 278 (1718), pp. 2646-2653 |
Number of Pages | 8 |
Year | 2011 |
Publisher | Royal Society Publishing |
Place of Publication | United Kingdom |
ISSN | 0962-8452 |
1471-2954 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.2725 |
Web Address (URL) | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.2010.2725 |
Abstract | Plants produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in response to herbivore attack, and these VOCs can be used by parasitoids of the herbivore as host location cues. We investigated the behavioural responses of the parasitoid Cotesia vestalis to VOCs from a plant–herbivore complex consisting of cabbage plants (Brassica oleracea) and the parasitoids host caterpillar, Plutella xylostella. A Y-tube olfactometer was used to compare the parasitoids' responses to VOCs produced as a result of different levels of attack by the caterpillar and equivalent levels of mechanical damage. Headspace VOC production by these plant treatments was examined using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Cotesia vestalis were able to exploit quantitative and qualitative differences in volatile emissions, from the plant–herbivore complex, produced as a result of different numbers of herbivores feeding. Cotesia vestalis showed a preference for plants with more herbivores and herbivore damage, but did not distinguish between different levels of mechanical damage. Volatile profiles of plants with different levels of herbivores/herbivore damage could also be separated by canonical discriminant analyses. Analyses revealed a number of compounds whose emission increased significantly with herbivore load, and these VOCs may be particularly good indicators of herbivore number, as the parasitoid processes cues from its external environment. |
Keywords | herbivore-induced plant volatiles; Lepidoptera; parasitoid host location; tritrophic; volatile organic compounds; Hymenoptera |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 310901. Animal behaviour |
310301. Behavioural ecology | |
300804. Horticultural crop protection (incl. pests, diseases and weeds) | |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | University of Southampton, United Kingdom |
Imperial College London, United Kingdom | |
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, United Kingdom |
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