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Fragrance of Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense) Attracts Both Floral Herbivores and Pollinators

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Abstract

The evolution of floral scent as a plant reproductive signal is assumed to be driven by pollinator behavior, with little attention paid to other potential selective forces such as herbivores. I tested 10 out of the 13 compounds emitted by dioecious Cirsium arvense, Canada thistle, including 2-phenylethanol, methyl salicylate, p-anisaldehyde, benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol, phenylacetaldehyde, linalool, furanoid linalool oxides (E and Z), and dimethyl salicylate. Single compounds (and one isomer) set out in scent-baited water-bowl traps trapped over 10 species of pollinators and 16 species of floral herbivores. The two dominant components of the fragrance blend of C. arvense, benzaldehyde and phenylacetaldehyde, trapped both pollinators and florivores. Other compounds attracted either pollinators or florivores. Florivores of C. arvense appear to use floral scent compounds as kairomones; by advertising to pollinators, C. arvense also attracts its own enemies.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Robert Raguso and Manuel Lerdau for discussion and comments; Laurel Reid, Eileen Rios, and Sarah Brice for help with data collection; Karen Goodell for help with bee identification; Robin Clery from Quest International for samples of dimethyl salicylate; and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. This work was supported in part by Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research, American Museum of Natural History Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund, U.S. Department of Education GAANN Fellowship, Sokal Travel Award, The Explorers Club Exploration Fund, and a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation (DEB# 0206300).

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  1. Nina Theis

    Present address: Plant, Soil, and Insect Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

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  1. Department of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA

    Nina Theis

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Theis, N. Fragrance of Canada Thistle (Cirsium arvense) Attracts Both Floral Herbivores and Pollinators. J Chem Ecol 32, 917–927 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-006-9051-x

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