Understanding the chemodiversity of plants: Quantification, variation and ecological function
Abstract Plants produce a great number of phytochemicals serving a variety of different functions. Recently, the chemodiversity of these compounds (i.e., the diversity of compounds produced by a plant) has been suggested to be an important aspect of the plant phenotype that may shape interactions between plants, their environment, and other organisms. However, we lack an agreement on how to quantify chemodiversity, which complicates conclusions about the functional importance of it. Here, we discuss how chemodiversity (deconstructed into components of richness, evenness and disparity) may relate to different ecologically relevant aspects of the phenotype. Then, we systematically review the literature on chemodiversity to examine methodological practices, explore patterns of variability in diversity across different levels of biological organization, and investigate the functional role of this diversity in interactions between plants and other organisms. Overall, the reviewed literature suggests that high chemodiversity is often beneficial for plants, although a heterogeneity of methodological approaches partly limits what general conclusions can be drawn. Importantly, to support future research on this topic, we provide a framework with a decision tree facilitating choices on which measures of chemodiversity are best used in different contexts and outline key questions and avenues for future research. A more thorough understanding of chemodiversity will provide insights into its evolution and functional role in ecological interactions between plants and their environment.
Authors
- Nicole M. van Dam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2622-5446)
- Moritz Popp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9861-2747)
- Ruth Jakobs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2555-9308)
- Rohit Sasidharan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3670-2947)
- Andrea Bräutigam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5309-0527)
- Caroline Müller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8447-534X)
- Robin Heinen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9852-1020)
- Hampus Petrén (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6490-4517)
- Dominik Ziaja (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0426-6856)
- Frans M. Thon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9052-8834)
- Robert R. Junker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7919-9678)
- Silvia Eckert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8896-1046)
- Jörg‐Peter Schnitzler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9825-867X)
- Redouan Adam Anaia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4896-299X)
- Sol Yepes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8563-3565)
- Anke Steppuhn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6801-997X)
- Meike J. Wittmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7209-9172)
- Wolfgang W. Weisser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2757-8959)
- Lina Ojeda‐Prieto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6069-901X)
- Sybille B. Unsicker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9738-0075)
- Kruthika Sen Aragam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2748-372X)
Institutions
- University of Hohenheim (DE)
- Philipps University of Marburg (DE)
- Bielefeld University (DE)
- Hochschule Bielefeld (DE)
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE)
- Helmholtz Zentrum München (DE)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology (DE)
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- Friedrich Schiller University Jena (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Ecological Monographs
- Published
- 2024-10-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1635
- Citations
- 25
- Primary Topic
- Plant and animal studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 25.73
Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft