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Effects of air pollution on biogenic volatiles and ecological interactions

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Abstract

Chemical signals play important roles in ecological interactions but are vulnerable to perturbation by air pollution. In polluted air masses, signals may travel shorter distances before being destroyed by chemical reactions with pollutants, thus losing their specificity. To determine which scent-mediated interactions are likely to be affected, we review existing literature to build a picture of what chemicals are commonly found in such interactions and the spatial scales at which interactions occur. We find that pollination, attraction of natural enemies of plant pests, aggregation pheromones, and mate attraction are likely to be affected. We review the scant literature on this topic and extend the hypothesis to include heretofore unexplored interactions. New research should investigate whether air pollution deleteriously affects populations of organisms that rely on scent plumes. Additionally, we need to investigate whether or not breakdown products created by the reaction of signaling chemicals with pollutants can provide usable signals, and whether or not there has been adaptation on the part of scent emitters or receivers to use either breakdown products or more robust chemical signals. The proposed research will necessarily draw on tools from atmospheric science, evolutionary biology, and ecology in furthering our understanding of the ecological implications of how air pollution modifies the scentscape.

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Acknowledgments

J.D.F. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation (grant number ATM-0445012). J.C.K. received support from the Virginia Coastal Reserve (VCR) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) to participate in this research (grant number DEB-0621014). The US National Science Foundation supports the VCR-LTER research activities. Thanks to Rob Raguso for help with the historical aspects of this paper and to several anonymous reviewers, as well as Peter Fields, Esther Julier, Stephen Keller, Vijay Panjeti, Dan Sloan. and Dexter Sowell, for comments on an earlier draft. The experiments in this paper comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400328, Gilmer Hall, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA

    Quinn S. McFrederick & Manuel Lerdau

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Clark Hall, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA

    Jose D. Fuentes, T’ai Roulston, James C. Kathilankal & Manuel Lerdau

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  1. Quinn S. McFrederick
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  2. Jose D. Fuentes
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  3. T’ai Roulston
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  4. James C. Kathilankal
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  5. Manuel Lerdau
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Correspondence to Manuel Lerdau.

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Communicated by Carlos Balleré.

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McFrederick, Q.S., Fuentes, J.D., Roulston, T. et al. Effects of air pollution on biogenic volatiles and ecological interactions. Oecologia 160, 411–420 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1318-9

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