The relationship between the degree of specialization of parasitoids and their responses to host-related volatiles is an important and current evolutionary question. Specialist parasitoids which have evolved to attack fewer host species are predicted to be more responsive to host-related volatiles than generalists. We tested the above prediction by comparing behavioural responses of both sexes ...

Endoclita signifer is a major wood-boring pest of eucalyptus trees in China, and its third instar larvae can accurately find infest mixed-species forests, although it also feed on another 51 tree species the same planted area. A total 34 volatile compounds were identified from trunks, including non-infested infested trunks with single or multiple (more than three) larval entrance cover packets,...

Ability to efficiently localize productive foraging habitat is crucial for nesting success of insectivorous birds. Some bird species can use olfaction identify caterpillar-infested trees by detection herbivore induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), but these cues probably need be learned. So far, we know very little about the process olfactory learning in birds, whether have a predisposition detectin...

Herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) are regarded as an indirect defense against herbivores, since they attract natural enemies to infested plants. On the other hand, HIPVs also affect behavioral responses of herbivores. In a previous study, Lytopylus rufipes, parasitoid oriental fruit moth (Grapholita molesta), showed positive pear HIPVs, but influence on G. molesta is still unclear. To b...

Silicon has generally not been considered essential for plant growth, although it is well recognized that many plants, particularly Poaceae, have substantial plant tissue concentrations of this element. Recently, however, the International Plant Nutrition Institute [IPNI] (2015), Georgia, USA has listed it as a "beneficial substance". This reflects that numerous studies have now established tha...

Jasmonic acid (JA) plays a central role in induced plant defence e.g. by regulating the biosynthesis of herbivore-induced plant volatiles that mediate the attraction of natural enemies of herbivores. Moreover, exogenous application of JA can be used to elicit plant defence responses similar to those induced by biting-chewing herbivores and mites that pierce cells and consume their contents. In ...

Plants respond to insect oviposition by emission of oviposition-induced plant volatiles (OIPVs) which can recruit egg parasitoids of the attacking herbivore. To date, studies demonstrating egg parasitoid attraction to OIPVs have been carried out in tritrophic systems consisting of one species each of plant, herbivore host, and the associated egg parasitoid. Less attention has been given to plan...

Kairomones are chemical signals that mediate interspecific interactions beneficial to organisms detect the cues. These attractants can be individual compounds or mixtures of herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) herbivore chemicals such as pheromones, i.e., mediating intraspecific communication between herbivores. Natural enemies eavesdrop on kairomones during their foraging behaviour, loca...

Herbivore feeding elicits defense responses in infested plants, including the emission of volatile organic compounds that can serve as indirect defense signals. Until now, the contribution of plant tissue wounding during the feeding process in the elicitation of defense responses has not been clear. For example, in lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus), the composition of the volatiles induced by both ...

Abstract Zoophytophagous arthropods can elicit plant defense responses affecting potential prey beyond predation. Phytophagy prevails as the main trigger for these responses, in case of Euseius stipulatus (Athias-Henriot) (Mesostigmata: Phytoseiidae), a predator occurring citrus. Because other triggers cannot be excluded, our aim was to examine whether phytoseiids co-occurring with E. but not e...