3 Review(s)

Plant secondary metabolites (PSM's) such as terpenes and phenolic compounds are known to have numerous ecological roles, notably in defence against herbivores, pathogens and abiotic stresses and in interactions with competitors and mutualists. This book reviews recent developments in the field to provide a synthesis of the function, ecology and evolution of PSM's, revealing our increased awareness of their integrative role in connecting natural systems. It emphasises the multiple roles of secondary metabolites in mediating the interactions between organisms and their environment at a range of scales of ecological organisation, demonstrating how genes encoding for PSM biosynthetic enzymes can have effects from the cellular scale within individual plants all the way to global environmental processes. A range of recent methodological advances, including molecular, transgenic and metabolomic techniques, are illustrated and promising directions for future studies are identified, making this a valuable reference for researchers and graduate students in the field. Table of Contents Preface 1. The integrative roles of plant secondary metabolites in natural systems: a synthesis 2. Natural selection for anti-herbivore plant secondary metabolites: a Eucalyptus system 3. Temporal changes in plant secondary metabolite production: patterns, causes and consequences 4. Mixtures in plant chemical defence: metabolic origins and ecological benefits 5. The herbivore's prescription: a pharm-ecological perspective on host plant use by vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores 6. Volatile isoprenoids and abiotic stresses 7. Atmospheric change, plant secondary metabolites, and ecological interactions 8. The role of plant secondary metabolites in freshwater macrophyte-herbivore interactions: limited or unexplored chemical defences? 9. The soil microbial community and plant foliar defences against insects 10. Phytochemicals as mediators of aboveground-belowground interactions in plants 11. Plant secondary metabolites and the interactions between plants and other organisms: the potential of a metabolomic approach 12. Integrating the effects of PSMs on vertebrate herbivores across spatial and temporal scales 13. Plant secondary metabolite polymorphisms and the extended chemical phenotype 14. From genes to ecosystems: emerging concepts bridging ecological and evolutionary dynamics 15. Asking the ecosystem if herbivory-inducible plant volatiles (hipvs) have defensive functions 16. Dynamics of plant secondary metabolites and consequences for food chains and community dynamics