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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #212461
Title: Plant-herbivore-carnivore interactions in cotton, Gossypium hirsutum linking below ground and above ground

Author
item Olson, Dawn
item WACKERS, FELIX - LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/10/2007
Publication Date: 12/10/2007
Citation: Olson, D.M., Wackers, F. 2007. Plant-herbivore-carnivore interactions in cotton, Gossypium hirsutum linking below grown and above ground [abstract]. Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, December 9-12, 2007, San Diego, CA. Available: http://esa.confex.com/esa/2007/techprogram/paper_29334.htm.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Most studies on plant-herbivore interactions have focused on either root or shoot herbivory in isolation, but recent studies show how above- and below ground herbivores may interact via a shared host plant. Cotton (Gossypium spp.) produces a variety of terpenoid aldehydes that exhibit toxicity to a wide range of herbivores and pathogens. In addition, cotton plants emit herbivore induced volatile compounds, both at the site of damage and systemically on all tissues above the site of damage. As these volatile compounds attract natural enemy species of the herbivore, they are considered to represent an indirect defense. We utilize Gossypium hirsutum, Heliocoverpa zea, Meloidogyne arenaria and Microplitis croceipes to determine if terpenoid induction occurs in cotton through foliage feeding, root feeding and their combination, and if foliage feeding, root feeding and their combination affect volatile induction and the ensuing attractiveness of plants for a member of the third trophic level.