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Edited by James H. Tumlinson, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, and approved January 22, 2007
Received for publication November 22, 2006.
Abstract:
Plants respond to herbivore attack with the release of volatileorganic compounds (VOCs), which can attract predatory arthropodsand/or repel herbivores and thus serve as a means of defenseagainst herbivores. Such VOCs might also be perceived by neighboringplants to adjust their defensive phenotype according to thepresent risk of attack. We exposed lima bean plants at theirnatural growing site to volatiles of beetle-damaged conspecificshoots. This reduced herbivore damage and increased the growthrate of the exposed plants. To investigate whether VOCs alsocan serve in signaling processes within the same individualplant we focused on undamaged "receiver" leaves that were eitherexposed or not exposed to VOCs released by induced "emitter"leaves. Extrafloral nectar secretion by receiver leaves increasedwhen they were exposed to VOCs of induced emitters of neighboringplants or of the same shoot, yet not when VOCs were removedfrom the system. Extrafloral nectar attracts predatory arthropodsand represents an induced defense mechanism. The volatiles alsoprimed extrafloral nectar secretion to show an augmented responseto subsequent damage. Herbivore-induced VOCs elicit a defensiveresponse in undamaged plants (or parts of plants) under naturalconditions, and they function as external signal for within-plantcommunication, thus serving also a physiological role in thesystemic response of a plant to local damage.
Key Words: ant–plant interaction • extrafloral nectar • indirect defense • lima bean • plant–plant communication
Author contributions: M.H. and J.C.S.B. designed research; M.H.and J.C.S.B. performed research; M.H. analyzed data; and M.H.wrote the paper.
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