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Emission Timetable and Quantitative Patterns of Wound-Induced Volatiles Across Different Leaf Damage Treatments in Aspen (Populus Tremula)

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Abstract

Plant-feeding herbivores can generate complex patterns of foliar wounding, but it is unclear how wounding-elicited volatile emissions scale with the severity of different wounding types, and there is no common protocol for wounding experiments. We investigated the rapid initial response to wounding damage generated by different numbers of straight cuts and punctures through leaf lamina as well as varying area of lamina squeezing in the temperate deciduous tree Populus tremula. Wounding-induced volatile emission time-courses were continuously recorded by a proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass-spectrometer. After the mechanical wounding, an emission cascade was rapidly elicited resulting in sequential emissions of key stress volatiles methanol, acetaldehyde, and volatiles of the lipoxygenase pathway, collectively constituting more than 97 % of the total emission. The maximum emission rates, reached after one to three minutes after wounding, and integrated emissions during the burst were strongly correlated with the severity in all damage treatments. For straight cuts and punch hole treatments, the emissions per cut edge length were constant, indicating a direct proportionality. Our results are useful for screening wounding-dependent emission capacities.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Peter C. Harley for insightful comments on the MS. We thank the two reviewers and Editors for helpful advice that significantly improved the manuscript. This work was supported by the Estonian Ministry of Science and Education [institutional grant IUT-8-3], Estonian Science Foundation [grant 9253], the European Commission through the European Regional Fund [Center of Excellence in Environmental Adaptation] and Marie Curie [grant ERMOS73] and through the Transnational Access to Research Infrastructures activity [ExpeER], the European Research Council [advanced grant 322603, SIP-VOL+] and the European Social fund ESF [MJD 438].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Physiology, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, 51014, Tartu, Estonia

    Miguel Portillo-Estrada, Taras Kazantsev, Eero Talts, Tiina Tosens & Ülo Niinemets

  2. Centre of Excellence PLECO (Plant and Vegetation Ecology), Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610, Wilrijk, Belgium

    Miguel Portillo-Estrada

  3. Estonian Academy of Sciences, Kohtu 6, 10130, Tallinn, Estonia

    Ülo Niinemets

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  1. Miguel Portillo-Estrada
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Correspondence to Miguel Portillo-Estrada.

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Portillo-Estrada, M., Kazantsev, T., Talts, E. et al. Emission Timetable and Quantitative Patterns of Wound-Induced Volatiles Across Different Leaf Damage Treatments in Aspen (Populus Tremula). J Chem Ecol 41, 1105–1117 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-015-0646-y

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