First insights into specificity of belowground tritrophic interactions

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_E03A25729D2E
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
First insights into specificity of belowground tritrophic interactions
Journal
Oikos
Author(s)
Rasmann S., Turlings T.C.J.
ISSN
0030-1299
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2008
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
117
Number
3
Pages
362-369
Language
english
Abstract
Tritrophic interactions involving plants, herbivores and parasites have been only recently documented for belowground systems, where entomopathogenic nematodes can exploit root herbivore induced volatile compounds to locate their hosts. Little is known, however, about whether the specificity of such interactions rivals that of the remarkable interactions found in aboveground studies. Using a belowground six-arm olfactometer that allows recording of nematode attraction, specificity of nine economically important species of different trophic levels, including plants, root feeders and entomopathogenic nematodes, was tested. We found that belowground tritrophic interactions are variable at the level of plant volatiles that are induced, elicitation by herbivores, as well as behavior of nematodes. We argue that studies on specificity and variability of belowground responses should be included in plant defense theories and in efforts to exploit tritrophic interactions to improve biological control practices.
Web of science
Create date
03/10/2011 14:37
Last modification date
20/08/2019 17:04
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