This book provides an overview of the intricacies of plant communication via volatile chemicals. Plants produce an extraordinarily vast array of chemicals, which provide community members with detailed information about the producer’s identity, physiology and phenology. Volatile organic chemicals, either as individual compounds or complex chemical blends, are a communication medium operating between plants and any organism able to detect the compounds and respond. The ecological and evolutionary origins of particular interactions between plants and the greater community have been, and will continue to be, strenuously debated. However, it is clear that chemicals, and particularly volatile chemicals, constitute a medium akin to a linguistic tool. As well as possessing a rich chemical vocabulary, plants are known to detect and respond to chemical cues. These cues can originate from neighbouring plants, or other associated community members. This book begins with chapters on the complexity of chemical messages, provides a broad perspective on a range of ecological interactions mediated by volatile chemicals, and extends to cutting edge developments on the detection of chemicals by plants.

Since the concept of allelopathy was introduced almost 100 years ago, research has led to an understanding that plants are involved in complex communicative interactions. They use a battery of different signals that convey plant-relevant information within plant individuals as well as between plants of the same species or different species. The 13 chapters of this volume discuss all these topics from an ecological perspective. Communication between plants allows them to share physiological and ecological information relevant for their survival and ?tness. It is obvious that in these very early days of ecological plant communication research we are illuminating only the ‘tip of iceberg’ of the communicative nature of higher plants. Nevertheless, knowledge on the identity and informative value of volatiles used by plants for communication is increasing with breath-taking speed. Among the most spectacular examples are sit- tions where plant emitters warn neighbours about a danger, increasing their innate immunity, or when herbivore-attacked plants attract the enemies of the herbivores (‘cry for help’ and ‘plant bodyguards’ concepts). It is becoming obvious that plants use not only volatile signals but also diverse water soluble molecules, in the case of plant roots, to safeguard their evolutionary success and accomplish self/non-self kin rec- nition. Importantly, as with all the examples of biocommunication, irrespective of whether signals and signs are transmitted via physical or chemical pathways, plant communication is a rule-governed and sign-mediated process.

The news that a flowering weed—mousear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana)—can sense the particular chewing noise of its most common caterpillar predator and adjust its chemical defenses in response led to headlines announcing the discovery of the first “hearing” plant. As plants lack central nervous systems (and, indeed, ears), the mechanisms behind this “hearing” are unquestionably very different from those of our own acoustic sense, but the misleading headlines point to an overlooked truth: plants do in fact perceive environmental cues and respond rapidly to them by changing their chemical, morphological, and behavioral traits. In Plant Sensing and Communication, Richard Karban provides the first comprehensive overview of what is known about how plants perceive their environments, communicate those perceptions, and learn. Facing many of the same challenges as animals, plants have developed many similar capabilities: they sense light, chemicals, mechanical stimulation, temperature, electricity, and sound. Moreover, prior experiences have lasting impacts on sensitivity and response to cues; plants, in essence, have memory. Nor are their senses limited to the processes of an individual plant: plants eavesdrop on the cues and behaviors of neighbors and—for example, through flowers and fruits—exchange information with other types of organisms. Far from inanimate organisms limited by their stationary existence, plants, this book makes unquestionably clear, are in constant and lively discourse.

The eighteenth-century naturalist Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles) argued that plants are animate, living beings and attributed them sensation, movement, and a certain degree of mental activity, emphasizing the continuity between humankind and plant existence. Two centuries later, the understanding of plants as active and communicative organisms has reemerged in such diverse fields as plant neurobiology, philosophical posthumanism, and ecocriticism. The Language of Plants brings together groundbreaking essays from across the disciplines to foster a dialogue between the biological sciences and the humanities and to reconsider our relation to the vegetal world in new ethical and political terms. Viewing plants as sophisticated information-processing organisms with complex communication strategies (they can sense and respond to environmental cues and play an active role in their own survival and reproduction through chemical languages) radically transforms our notion of plants as unresponsive beings, ready to be instrumentally appropriated. By providing multifaceted understandings of plants, informed by the latest developments in evolutionary ecology, the philosophy of biology, and ecocritical theory, The Language of Plants promotes the freedom of imagination necessary for a new ecological awareness and more sustainable interactions with diverse life forms. Contributors: Joni Adamson, Arizona State U; Nancy E. Baker, Sarah Lawrence College; Karen L. F. Houle, U of Guelph; Luce Irigaray, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris; Erin James, U of Idaho; Richard Karban, U of California at Davis; André Kessler, Cornell U; Isabel Kranz, U of Vienna; Michael Marder, U of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU); Timothy Morton, Rice U; Christian Nansen, U of California at Davis; Robert A. Raguso, Cornell U; Catriona Sandilands, York U.

Plant neurobiology is a newly emerging field of plant sciences. It covers signalling and communication at all levels of biological organization – from molecules up to ecological communities. In this book, plants are presented as intelligent and social organisms with complex forms of communication and information processing. Authors from diverse backgrounds such as molecular and cellular biology, electrophysiology, as well as ecology treat the most important aspects of plant communication, including the plant immune system, abilities of plants to recognize self, signal transduction, receptors, plant neurotransmitters and plant neurophysiology. Further, plants are able to recognize the identity of herbivores and organize the defence responses accordingly. The similarities in animal and plant neuronal/immune systems are discussed too. All these hidden aspects of plant life and behaviour will stimulate further intense investigations in order to understand the communicative plants in their whole complexity.

This book presents research on volatiles produced by microbes and plants along with their biotechnological implications for sustainable agriculture. A greater understanding of how plants and microbes live together and benefit each other can provide new strategies to improve plant productivity, while at the same time helping to protect the environment and maintain global biodiversity. To date, the use of chemicals to enhance plant growth or induced resistance in plants has been limited due to the negative effects and the difficulty in determining the optimal concentrations to benefit the plant. The book discusses extensive studies on biological alternatives that avoid these problems, and the research presented suggests that these compounds could offer an environmentally sound means to better grow and protect plants under greenhouse or field conditions. To understand the nature of VOCs and gene expression profiling of plant genes responding against these compounds can be conducted. It is possible that VOCs produced by microbes while colonizing roots are generated at sufficient concentrations to trigger plant responses. In conclusion, positive or negative effects of VOCs on plant productivity will be dependent on upon specific VOCs microbial strain, plant genotype, and presence/absence of abiotic/biotic stresses

Insects have evolved very unique and interesting tactics using chemical signals to survive. Chemical ecology illustrates the working of the biological network by means of chemical analyses. Recent advances in analytical technology have opened the way to a better understanding of the more complicated and abyssal interactions of insects with other organisms including plants and microbes. This book covers recent research on insects and chemical communications and presents the current status about challenges faced by chemical ecologists for the management of pests in agriculture and human health.

The world faces significant challenges as the population and consumption continue to grow while nonrenewable fossil fuels and other raw materials are depleted at ever-increasing rates. Moreover, environmental consciousness and a penchant for thinking in terms of material cycles have caught on with consumers: the use of environmentally compatible materials and production methods is desired. This volume, Green Materials and Environmental Chemistry: New Production Technologies, Unique Properties, and Applications takes a technical approach to address these issues using green design and analysis. This book provides an overview of the latest developments in environmental chemistry and sustainable materials written by experts in their respective research areas. This interdisciplinary volume offers research with the aim to minimize environmental impacts across all lifecycle phases in the design and engineering of products, processes, and systems as just one possible approach to addressing the larger issue of sustainability that includes environmental, economic, and social aspects.

Insects are the most interesting and diverse group of organisms on earth, many of which are useful as pollinators of crops and wild plants while others are useful as natural enemies keeping pestiferous insects in check. It is important to conserve these insects for our survival and for this the diversity of insect species inhabiting the different ecosystems of our country must be known. The cornerstone to studies of any kind of organismal diversity is their taxonomic identity. Even after over two and half centuries of studies, so little is known of the insect wealth of our country. It has contributions from taxonomists who have been studying Indian insects for long, this book offers up to date information on many important groups of Indian insects seeking to fill the lacuna of a long felt need for a comprehensive work on the taxonomy of Indian insects. Salient features: Provides an up-to-date taxonomy of major insect groups of India Presents identification keys with illustrations of several important groups of Indian insects Gives a new insight into why insects are so abundant Addresses fundamental questions in mechanoreception and cross kingdom interactions using insects as model systems Indian Insects: Diversity and Science is a festschrift to Professor C. A. Viraktamath, an insect taxonomist par excellence. It has been designed to cater to the needs of academicians, researchers and students who wish to identify insects collected from local environments and will be an invaluable aid for those working in the areas of systematics, ecology, behaviour, diversity and the conservation of insects.

Plant volatiles—compounds emitted from plant organs to interact with the surrounding environment—play essential roles in attracting pollinators and defending against herbivores and pathogenes, plant-plant signaling, and abiotic stress responses. Biology of Plant Volatiles, with contributions from leading international groups of distinguished scientists in the field, explores the major aspects of plant scent biology. Responding to new developments in the detection of the complex compound structures of volatiles, this book details the composition and biosynthesis of plant volatiles and their mode of emission. It explains the function and significance of volatiles for plants as well as insects and microbes whose interactions with plants are affected by these compounds. The content also explores the biotechnological and commercial potential for the manipulation of plant volatiles. Features: Combines widely scattered literature in a single volume for the first time, covering all important aspects of plant volatiles, from their chemical structures to their biosynthesis to their roles in the interactions of plants with their biotic and abiotic environment Takes an interdisciplinary approach, providing multilevel analysis from chemistry and genes to enzymology, cell biology, organismal biology and ecology Includes up-to-date methodologies in plant scent biology research, from molecular biology and enzymology to functional genomics This book will be a touchstone for future research on the many applications of plant volatiles and is aimed at plant biologists, entomologists, evolutionary biologists and researchers in the horticulture and perfume industries.