| Title: | Volatile emissions triggered by multiple herbivore damage: beet armyworm and whitefly feeding on cotton plants |
| Author(s): | Rodriguez-Saona C; Crafts-Brandner SJ; Canas LA; |
| Address: | "USDA-ARS, Western Cotton Research Laboratory, Phoenix, Arizona 85040, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0098-0331 (Print) 0098-0331 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Plants are commonly attacked by more than one species of herbivore, potentially causing the induction of multiple, and possibly competing, plant defense systems. In the present paper, we determined the interaction between feeding by the phloem feeder silverleaf whitefly (SWF), Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (B-biotype = B. argentifolii Bellows and Perring), and the leaf-chewing beet armyworm (BAW), Spodoptera exigua Hubner, with regard to the induction of volatile compounds from cotton plants. Compared to undamaged control plants, infestation with SWF did not induce volatile emissions or affect the number and density of pigment glands that store volatile and nonvolatile terpenoid compounds, whereas infestation by BAW strongly induced plant volatile emission. When challenged by the two insect herbivores simultaneously, volatile emission was significantly less than for plants infested with only BAW. Our results suggest that tritrophic level interactions between cotton, BAW, and natural enemies of BAW, that are known to be mediated by plant volatile emissions, may be perturbed by simultaneous infestation by SWF. Possible mechanisms by which the presence of whiteflies may attenuate volatile emissions from caterpillar-damaged cotton plants are discussed" |
| Keywords: | "Adaptation, Physiological Animals Feeding Behavior *Food Chain Gossypium/*chemistry Hemiptera Larva Moths Plant Extracts Volatilization;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineRodriguez-Saona, Cesar Crafts-Brandner, Steven J Canas, Luis A eng 2003/12/20 J Chem Ecol. 2003 Nov; 29(11):2539-50. doi: 10.1023/a:1026314102866" |
