There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Attacks by herbivores elicit changes in the bouquet of volatiles released by plants.
These herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) have been interpreted as being indirect
defenses. However, given that no studies have yet investigated whether HIPVs benefit
the fitness of a plant, their defensive function remains to be established. Moreover,
herbivores, pathogens, pollinators and competitors also respond to HIPVs and, in addition,
neighbouring plants in native populations also emit volatiles that provide a background
odour. These considerations enrich the evolutionary context of HIPVs and complicate
predictions about their adaptive value. Molecular advances in our understanding of
HIPV signaling and biosynthesis is enabling the creation of HIPV-'mute' and possibly
HIPV-'deaf' plants. As we discuss here, such plants could be used for unbiased examination
of the fitness value of HIPV emissions under natural conditions.
Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.