Journal
BASIC AND APPLIED ECOLOGY
Volume 9, Issue 5, Pages 568-576Publisher
ELSEVIER GMBH, URBAN & FISCHER VERLAG
DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2007.10.002
Keywords
Melolontha melolontha; Scarabaeidae; white grubs; root herbivory; soil arena; CO(2); root exudates; odour masking; below-ground orientation; plant-herbivore interaction
Categories
Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsge-meinschaft [DFG Hi 416/13-1,2]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
; Plants are endangered at their roots by soil-dwelling rhizophagous insects. These below-ground living herbivores may orient to the source of carbon dioxide (CO(2)), an ubiquitous volatile released by respiring plant roots. Here, we studied the interaction of CO(2) and other plant root-derived chemical stimuli with regard to the chemical orientation of the polyphagous larvae of Melolontha melolontha L. (Scarabaeidae). A soil arena was developed that enabled both determination of the actual soil CO(2) concentration and the behavioural response of an insect to (a) CO(2) gradients per se, (b) chemical stimuli released from respiring, Undamaged roots of plants potted into vermiculite in this arena and (c) combinations of CO(2) gradients and root-derived stimuli. In a root-free arena. larvae of M. melolontha oriented to the source of synthetic CO(2). However, similar CO(2) gradients generated by host plant roots did not attract the larvae. Neither did a synthetic CO(2), gradient combined with aqueous extracts from rhizospheres With Undamaged plant roots elicit an attractive effect. Our data suggest that orientation of cockchafer larvae within CO(2) gradients generated by respiring roots is 'masked' by all aqueous extract from a rhizosphere with undamaged roots. The results emphasise that effects of behaviour modifying plant-derived compounds need to be investigated against the background of naturally co-occurring chemicals. The significance of our results for Orientation of soil living insects is discussed with respect to abiotic conditions in natural soil and the role of soil microorganisms for the attractiveness of plant roots. (C) 2007 Gesellschaft fur Okologie. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available