Within-plant signaling via volatiles in beech (Fagus crenata Blume)

Abstract

Many plants exhibit systemic induced resistance (SIR) coordinated among numerous branches after damage to a single localized tissue. Recently, it has been revealed that damaged leaves release a variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into their surroundings that induce SIR. The phenomenon has been described for only four species in field experiments. We investigated induced resistance to herbivory in beech, a dominant tree in Japan. We examined whether volatile cues were required for SIR by determining natural levels of leaf damage for assay branches that were on the same plant as treatment branches. We found when a local branch was mechanically clipped, the proportion of leaf segments that were damaged by herbivores was reduced. However, when a clipped branch was covered with a plastic bag, the proportion of leaf segments that were damaged was the same as that of the control. These results suggested that SIR in beech trees required air contact.

Utility of chloroplast DNA haplotype data for ecological restoration using Fagus crenata seedlings in case of incomplete seed source information availability

“…The latitudinal cline in leaf area and bud flush date detected in this study (Table 3) were consistent with those found in previous studies (Hagiwara, 1977; Hashizume et al, 1996; Hiura et al, 1996; Osada et al, 2018). Leaf area is larger in northern populations than in southern ones (Hagiwara, 1977; Hiura et al, 1996). In contrast, leaf thickness (leaf mass per area) was negatively correlated with latitude (Hiura, 1998).…”

“…Consequently, long-distance transfer of seeds and/or seedlings may have been common for F. crenata in Japan. Geographic patterns of leaf size are well-known in the species (Hagiwara, 1977), with latitudinal cline and differentiation between the Japan Sea side and Pacific Ocean side. Provenance trials were established at several sites, and the related studies revealed variation among adaptive traits, such as leaf and seed size (Hiura et al, 1996), bud flush timing (Hashizume et al, 1996), seed coat thickness (Maruta et al, 1997), and coppicing ability (Goto et al, 2016).…”

Effective distance of volatile cues for plant–plant communication in beech

“…Our results show that GLVs and other VOCs emitted from clipped beech induced the defense of neighboring beech against herbivores and/or pathogens, resulting in reduced damage to neighboring beech. Intraplant signaling for plant defense against herbivore has previously been reported in late‐successional tree species (Hagiwara & Shiojiri, 2020 ). However, to the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to show conspecific plant–plant communication in late‐successional tree species in the field.…”

“…These studies showed that beech can induce direct defenses against herbivory. Beech also exhibits an induced defense via VOCs, whereby undamaged beech leaves respond to VOCs from clipped leaves within the same tree (intraplant signaling), causing systemically induced resistance (Hagiwara & Shiojiri, 2020 ). However, to the best of our knowledge, volatiles of damaged beech have not yet been identified.…”

Mechanical Branch Wounding Alters the BVOC Emission Patterns of Ficus Plants

“…We applied four treatments to tree foliage: control, leaf-cutting, branch-cutting, and leaf-branch-cutting (Figure 1). Only one of these four treatments was applied to each tree as the localized damage can influence the whole plant [43]. The number of leaves used for the experiment varied depending on the leaf size of different species: 5-13 leaves per tree for the large-leaved species (F. virens and F. religiosa) and 7-22 leaves for the small-leaved species (F. microcarpa and F. benjamina).…”