Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology

We show how chemical diversity evolves in plants at different elevations

6/27/2023

Plants produce an astonishing diversity of various chemicals. So far, more than 200,000 different plant metabolites have been described. Individual specialized metabolites help plants cope with detrimental abiotic factors or defend themselves against natural enemies, such as herbivores and pathogens. While we understand the functions of some of these metabolites in plants, we still seek explanations for their seemingly excessive diversity.

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We kickstarted fieldwork within a new project on hybrid willows

6/8/2023

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In the past month, we kickstarted the first year of field work within a project that aims to explore adaptive hybridization in willows.

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In her new publication, Priscila shows how plants respond to different insect herbivores

6/2/2023

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Plants produce diverse chemical defences with contrasting effects on different insect herbivores. Deploying herbivore-specific responses can help plants increase their defensive efficacy. Here, we exposed 149 plants of Salix fragilis to 22 herbivore species from various orders and feeding guilds and explored the induced responses in volatiles and non-volatile leaf metabolites.
The volatile composition was best explained by chewing damage and insect order. Furthermore, we recorded significant differences in elicited volatiles among some species within the orders. Variation in non-volatile leaf metabolites was mainly explained by the presence of insects, as plants exposed to herbivores showed significantly different metabolites from controls.

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New Publications

Aubona G., Mezzomo P., Sedio B.E., Staab M.,Volf M. (2024) Neighbourhood effects on herbivory damage and chemical profiles in short-rotation coppice willows and their ybrids,  Phytochemistry, 228, 114249, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2024.114249

Ogutcen E., de Lima Ferreira P., Wagner N.D., Marinček P., Leong J.V., Aubona G., Cavender-Bares J., Michálek J., Schroeder L., Sedio B.E., Vašut R.J.,  Volf M., (2024) Phylogenetic insights into the Salicaceae: The evolution of willows and beyond. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 108161,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108161
Mezzomo P., Leong J.V., Vodrážka P., Moos M., Jorge L.R., Volfová T., Michálek J., de L. Ferreira P., Kozel P., Brian E. Sedio B.E., Volf M., (2024)  Variation in induced responses in volatile and non-volatile metabolites among six willow species: Do willow species share responses to herbivory? Phytochemistry, 114222, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2024.114222

Marinček P., Léveillé-Bourret É. , Heiduk F., Leong J.V , Bailleul S.M., Volf M., . Wagner N.D. (2024) **Challenge accepted: Evolutionary lineages versus taxonomic classification of North American shrub willows (Salix)**. the American Journal of Botany, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16361

Leong J.V., Mezzomo P., Kozel P., Volfová T., de Lima Ferreira P., Seifert C.L., Butterill P.T., Freiberga I., Michálek J., Matos-Maraví P., Weinhold A., Engström M.T., Salminen J-P., Segar S.T., Sedio B.E.,  Volf M. (2024) Effects of individual traits vs. trait syndromes on assemblages of various herbivore guilds associated with central European Salix. Oecologia, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11164786.

Xiao X., Jorge L.R., Volf M., Moos M., Gélin U., Finnie S., Freiberga I., Jancuchova‐Laskova J. , Weiss M., Novotny V., Sam K. (2024) **The effect of drought‐induced leaf traits on Ficus leaf palatability is species specific**. Ecosphere 15 - 5, e483,
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4831a

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