Format: ORAL

Xoaqun Moreira1, Luca Martn-Cacheda1, Carla Vzquez-Gonzlez1, and Luis Abdala-Roberts2

1Misión Biológica de Galicia (MBG-CSIC), Apartado de Correos 28, 36080 Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 2Departamento de Ecología Tropical, Campus de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Apartado Postal 4-116, Itzimná. 97000. Mérida, Yucatán, México

Over three decades of work on airborne plant communication have demonstrated that plants send, receive, and respond to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by neighboring plants. Much of this research has focused on the consequences of plant-plant communication on resistance against herbivory, with studies showing that VOCs emitted by herbivore-damaged plants increase resistance of neighboring undamaged plants. This phenomenon of plant communication is thought to be widespread and an increasing number of studies have proposed the use of plant VOC-mediated signaling as an alternative for sustainable crop protection against pests and diseases. However, a key aspect that has received relatively less attention concerns the ecological specificity and context-dependency of this phenomenon. Knowledge on this is crucial for assessing the ecological mechanisms that govern plant communication, determining its biological significance under natural conditions, as well as designing effective strategies for its use in crop plant resistance. Here, I will talk about the ecological specificity of plant communication, as well as the chemical mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, based on three main aspects: plant-based specificity, enemy-based specificity, and the importance of the abiotic context.