PARENT SESSION
Poster Session #2: Plant-Animal Interactions.
Monday, August 6, 2001. Presentation from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. Exhibition Hall
7
Trophic interactions among a wild plant, its herbivores, and parasitic wasps.
Redman, Ahnya 1, Tumlinson, James2, 1 2
ABSTRACT- We have found evidence that a wild, native plant species releases characteristic volatile compounds when damaged, attracting parasitic wasps associated with the herbivore, Manduca sexta (Sphingidae). Our work took place in natural populations of eastern black nightshade, Solanum ptycanthum (Solanaceae), and utilized portable air pumps for volatile-sampling in the field. We compared the parasitism rate of sentinel M. sexta larvae placed near control plants with that of sentinels placed near plants damaged previously with M. sexta larvae. Concurrently, we measured and characterized the production of volatile compounds associated with each of these treatments. Further, we were able to capture significantly more parasitoids on sticky traps across which headspace collected from damaged vs. control plants had been blown, in the absence of visual cues, lending support to the notion that volatile compounds were the source of attraction for foraging parasitoids.
KEY WORDS: tritrophic interactions, damage-induced volatiles, induced defense, Manduca sexta