Several aromatic plant species are well known for their high intraspecific variation in terpene composition. Within these species, different chemotypes can be distinguished, which are characterised by one major metabolite and distinct satellite compounds in lower abundance. Such intraspecific differences in plant quality should have major effects on herbivorous insects but may also be partly shaped by their feeding activities. In the present study, the effects of selected Tanacetum vulgare L. chemotypes on herbivore presence and preferences were investigated, and the naturally occurring diversity of T. vulgare was explored at a small spatial scale. A distinct distribution pattern of aphids and miners was found on different chemotypes of different origin of T. vulgare, with species-specific preferences of different herbivorous species. Larvae of two generalist noctuid species performed worse on most chemotypes of T. vulgare than on other plant species. Furthermore, the specific terpene composition of T. vulgare influenced larval development of these two generalist species. The naturally occurring chemical diversity of T. vulgare plants in an area smaller than 3 km(2) was extremely high, exhibiting 14 different chemotypes. Several individual patches of T. vulgare consisted of more than one chemotype. In conclusion, the existing chemotypical pattern of T. vulgare plants leads to a species-specific distribution of herbivores but may in turn be the result of contrasting selection pressures of various specialist and generalist herbivores.

Floral volatiles and reward traits are major drivers for the behavior of mutualistic as well as antagonistic flower visitors, i.e., pollinators and florivores. These floral traits differ tremendously between species, but intraspecific differences and their consequences on organism interactions remain largely unknown. Floral volatile compounds, such as terpenoids, function as cues to advertise rewards to pollinators, but should at the same time also repel florivores. The reward composition, e.g., protein and lipid contents in pollen, differs between individuals of distinct plant families. Whether the nutritional value of rewards within the same plant species is linked to their chemotypes, which differ in their pattern of specialized metabolites, has yet not been investigated. In the present study, we compared Tanacetum vulgare plants of five terpenoid chemotypes with regard to flower production, floral headspace volatiles, pollen macronutrient and terpenoid content, and floral attractiveness to florivorous beetles. Our analyses revealed remarkable differences between the chemotypes in the amount and diameter of flower heads, duration of bloom period, and pollen nutritional quality. The floral headspace composition of pollen-producing mature flowers, but not of premature flowers, was correlated to that of pollen and leaves in the same plant individual. For two chemotypes, florivorous beetles discriminated between the scent of mature and premature flower heads and preferred the latter. In semi-field experiments, the abundance of florivorous beetles and flower tissue miners differed between T. vulgare chemotypes. Moreover, the scent environment affected the choice and beetles were more abundant in homogenous plots composed of one single chemotype than in plots with different neighboring chemotypes. In conclusion, flower production, floral metabolic composition and pollen quality varied to a remarkable extend within the species T. vulgare, and the attractiveness of floral scent differed also intra-individually with floral ontogeny. We found evidence for a trade-off between pollen lipid content and pollen amount on a per-plant-level. Our study highlights that chemotypes which are more susceptible to florivory are less attacked when they grow in the neighborhood of other chemotypes and thus gain a benefit from high overall chemodiversity.

Plant responses of both shoots and roots to combined abiotic and biotic stress have been rarely investigated. However, stresses such as drought and aboveground herbivory might lead to conflicting resource allocation patterns and pronounced shifts in shoot vs. root defenses. In the present study, the effects of water availability and leaf herbivory by caterpillars of a generalist on various shoot and root traits of the aromatic plant Tanacetum vulgare L. were investigated. This species contains terpenoids in leaves and roots, which can differ in composition among individuals, forming so-called chemotypes. To test for intraspecific variation, responses were investigated in two chemotypes, the thujone and the carvyl acetate chemotype. Furthermore, effects of differences in plant quality on the herbivores were studied. Shoot biomass significantly decreased due to drought and herbivory, whereas the root/shoot ratio increased following drought but was unaffected by herbivory. No shifts in C/N ratios were found. In contrast to our expectation, leaf terpenoid concentrations decreased only slightly due to drought, whereas root terpenoids were significantly induced by both drought and herbivory. Chemotypes showed distinct responses to drought at least in the root/shoot ratio, with a higher drought sensitivity of the carvyl acetate chemotype. The body mass of the caterpillars was unaffected by the irrigation treatment but depended on chemotype and terpenoid concentration of the plants. Thus, both qualitative and quantitative defenses strongly affect herbivore development. The present results offer new insights into the above- and belowground organ-specific responses of plants. They highlight the importance of roots in response to various environmental challenges.

No abstract

Belowground communities can affect interactions between plants and aboveground insect communities. Such belowground–aboveground interactions are known to depend on the composition of belowground communities, as well as on the plant species that mediates these interactions. However, it is largely unknown whether the effect of belowground communities on aboveground plant–insect interactions also depends on genotypic variation within the plant species that mediates the interaction. To assess whether the outcome of belowground–aboveground interactions can be affected by plant genotype, we selected two white cabbage cultivars [Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata (Brassicaceae)]. From previous studies, it is known that these cultivars differ in their chemistry and belowground and aboveground multitrophic interactions. Belowground, we inoculated soils of the cultivars with either nematodes or microorganisms and included a sterilized soil as a control treatment. Aboveground, we quantified aphid [Brevicoryne brassicae (L.) (Hemiptera: Aphididae)] population development and parasitoid [Diaeretiella rapae (McIntosh) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae)] fitness parameters. The cultivar that sustained highest aphid numbers also had the best parasitoid performance. Soil treatment affected aphid population sizes: microorganisms increased aphid population growth. Soil treatments did not affect parasitoid performance. Cultivars differed in their amino acid concentration, leaf relative growth rate, and root, shoot, and phloem glucosinolate composition but showed similar responses of these traits to soil treatments. Consistent with this observation, no interactions were found between cultivar and soil treatment for aphid population growth or parasitoid performance. Overall, the aboveground community was more affected by cultivar, which was associated with glucosinolate profiles, than by soil community.