Abstract
Over the past few years, our knowledge of how ecological interactions shape the structure and dynamics of natural communities has rapidly advanced. Plant chemical traits play key roles in these processes because they mediate a diverse range of direct and indirect interactions in a community-wide context. Many chemically mediated interactions have been extensively studied in industrial cropping systems, and thus have focused on simplified, pairwise and linear interactions that rarely incorporate a community perspective. A contrasting approach considers the agroecosystem as a functioning whole, in which food production occurs. It offers an opportunity to better understand how plant chemical traits mediate complex interactions which can enhance or hinder ecosystem functions. In this paper, we argue that studying chemically mediated interactions in agroecosystems is essential to comprehend how agroecosystem services emerge and how they can be guaranteed through ecosystem management. First, we discuss how plant chemical traits affect and are affected by ecological interactions. We then explore research questions and future directions on how studying chemical mediation in complex agroecosystems can help us understand the emergence and management of ecosystem services, specifically biological control and pollination.
Highlights
It is well known that plant mediated interactions strongly influence the structure of natural communities (Connell and Slatyer, 1977; Roughgarden and Diamond, 1986)
We explore broad research questions and future directions on how chemical ecology can be studied in diversified agroecosystems and discuss its applications in two of the most studied agroecosystem services: pollination and biological control
We focus on the application of chemical ecology to the study of pollination and biological control
Summary
It is well known that plant mediated interactions strongly influence the structure of natural communities (Connell and Slatyer, 1977; Roughgarden and Diamond, 1986). We propose that studying chemically mediated interactions structured by VOCs and phytochemical diversity in agroecosystems is essential to understand how ecosystem functions emerge and can be enhanced in these systems. Agroecosystems are complex communities, and their management may alter the structure of interaction webs through modifications in plant diversity and, as a consequence, changes in plant chemical traits available to mediate direct and indirect interactions.
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