Journal
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION, AND SYSTEMATICS, VOL 49
Volume 49, Issue -, Pages 115-138Publisher
ANNUAL REVIEWS
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110617-062406
Keywords
plant-insect interactions; plant defenses; pollination; information theory; chemical information; herbivory
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Ever since the first plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) were isolated and identified, questions about their ecological functions and diversity have been raised. Recent advances in analytical chemistry and complex data computation, as well as progress in chemical ecology from mechanistic to functional and evolutionary questions, open a new box of hypotheses. Addressing these hypotheses includes the measurement of complex traits, such as chemodiversity, in a context-dependent manner and allows for a deeper understanding of the multifunctionality and functional redundancy of PSMs. Here we review a hypothesis framework that addresses PSM diversity on multiple ecological levels (alpha, beta, and gamma chemodiversity), its variation in space and time, and the potential agents of natural selection. We use the concept of chemical information transfer as mediator of antagonistic and mutualistic interaction to interpret functional and microevolutionary studies and create a hypothesis framework for understanding chemodiversity as a factor driving ecological processes.
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