4.6 Article

Floral volatiles evoke partially similar responses in both florivores and pollinators and are correlated with non-volatile reward chemicals

Journal

ANNALS OF BOTANY
Volume -, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcad064

Keywords

Floral volatile organic compounds; insect visitors; neuroethology; electrophysiology; floral rewards; floral toxins

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Plants use floral displays to attract mutually beneficial organisms and deter attackers. These displays include attractive or repellent floral volatile organic compounds (FVOCs) that can be detected from a distance. Locally, visitors perceive contact chemicals including nutrients and deterrent or toxic constituents of pollen and nectar. This review examines the composition of FVOCs and non-volatile floral chemicals, such as pollen nutrients and toxins, and their effects on insect detection and behavior. The study finds that florivores can detect more FVOCs than pollinators, and frequently tested FVOCs are often reported as attractive to pollinators and repellent to florivores.
Background Plants often use floral displays to attract mutualists and prevent antagonist attacks. Chemical displays detectable from a distance include attractive or repellent floral volatile organic compounds (FVOCs). Locally, visitors perceive contact chemicals including nutrients but also deterrent or toxic constituents of pollen and nectar. The FVOC and pollen chemical composition can vary intra- and interspecifically. For certain pollinator and florivore species, responses to these compounds are studied in specific plant systems, yet we lack a synthesis of general patterns comparing these two groups and insights into potential correlations between FVOC and pollen chemodiversity. Scope We reviewed how FVOCs and non-volatile floral chemical displays, i.e. pollen nutrients and toxins, vary in composition and affect the detection by and behaviour of insect visitors. Moreover, we used meta-analyses to evaluate the detection of and responses to FVOCs by pollinators vs. florivores within the same plant genera. We also tested whether the chemodiversity of FVOCs, pollen nutrients and toxins is correlated, hence mutually informative. Key Results According to available data, florivores could detect more FVOCs than pollinators. Frequently tested FVOCs were often reported as pollinator-attractive and florivore-repellent. Among FVOCs tested on both visitor groups, there was a higher number of attractive than repellent compounds. FVOC and pollen toxin richness were negatively correlated, indicating trade-offs, whereas a marginal positive correlation between the amount of pollen protein and toxin richness was observed. Conclusions Plants face critical trade-offs, because floral chemicals mediate similar information to both mutualists and antagonists, particularly through attractive FVOCs, with fewer repellent FVOCs. Furthermore, florivores might detect more FVOCs, whose richness is correlated with the chemical richness of rewards. Chemodiversity of FVOCs is potentially informative of reward traits. To gain a better understanding of the ecological processes shaping floral chemical displays, more research is needed on floral antagonists of diverse plant species and on the role of floral chemodiversity in visitor responses.

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