Friederike Maibaum, Stefan Schütz


A chemo-ecological study on poplar as hostplant for different insects

Monoclonal poplar plantations are known to be prone to severe damages by insects.
However, effects of clonal mixtures of Populus ssp. on insect host plant finding and host plant choice as well as the effect of interactions of Populus ssp. with microbes on insect host plant finding and host choice is less investigated now. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by these mixed stands are supposed to play a major role in mediating insect preferences. In this context one of the objectives of our project is to analyse the VOC patterns released by different poplars (species and proveniences).
Selected insects belonging to different guilds will be examined by behavioral studies and electrophysiological methods in order to evaluate effects of VOC pattern on insect olfactory perception, resulting host plant finding, and host plant choice.