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Pollinator and Herbivore Attraction to Cucurbita Floral Volatiles

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Abstract

Mutualists and antagonists may place conflicting selection pressures on plant traits. For example, the evolution of floral traits is typically studied in the context of attracting pollinators, but traits may incur fitness costs if they are also attractive to antagonists. Striped cucumber beetles (Acalymma vittatum) feed on cucurbits and are attracted to several volatiles emitted by Cucurbita blossoms. However, the effect of these volatiles on pollinator attraction is unknown. Our goal was to determine whether pollinators were attracted to the same or different floral volatiles as herbivorous cucumber beetles. We tested three volatiles previously found to attract cucumber beetles in a factorial design to determine attraction of squash bees (Peponapis pruinosa), the specialist pollinators of cucurbita species, as well as the specialist herbivore A. vittatum. We found that 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene was attractive to both the pollinator and the herbivore, indole was attractive only to the herbivore, and (E)-cinnamaldehyde was attractive only to the pollinator. There were no interactions among volatiles on attraction of squash bees or cucumber beetles. Our results suggest that reduced indole emission could benefit plants by reducing herbivore attraction without loss of pollination, and that 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene might be under conflicting selection pressure from mutualists and antagonists. By examining the attraction of both mutualists and antagonists to Cucurbita floral volatiles, we have demonstrated the potential for some compounds to influence only one type of interaction, while others may affect both interactions and possibly result in tradeoffs. These results shed light on the potential evolution of fragrance in native Cucurbita, and may have consequences for yield in agricultural settings.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T’ai Roulston of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia for identifying pollinators, Araujo Farms in Dighton, MA, for the use of their butternut squash field, and S. Halpern, T. Roulston, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript. This research was supported by a University of Massachusetts Amherst senior honors research grant awarded by the Commonwealth College to ESA, the National Science Foundation DEB 0542819 to NT, and a Northeastern Integrated Pest Management USDA grant to LSA.

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  1. Department of Plant, Soil and Insect Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA

    Elizabeth S. Andrews, Nina Theis & Lynn S. Adler

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  1. Elizabeth S. Andrews
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  2. Nina Theis
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  3. Lynn S. Adler
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Correspondence to Lynn S. Adler.

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Andrews, E.S., Theis, N. & Adler, L.S. Pollinator and Herbivore Attraction to Cucurbita Floral Volatiles. J Chem Ecol 33, 1682–1691 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-007-9337-7

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