Chemical Ecology

Plants under attack by herbivores initiate the production and release of volatiles that are attractive to the natural enemies of the herbivores.  Aboveground these volatile signals can attract parasitic wasps and predators that attack and kill the herbivores. Belowground such signals are attractive to insect-killing nematodes. The signals are also perceived by neighboring plants, which may then mobilize their own defenses.  We aim to unravel the chemical and molecular mechanisms that are involved in these interactions, as well as understand their ecological consequences.  By studying cultivated plant and their wild ancestors we hope to develop methods to better exploit the natural defense signals for optimal crop protection.

• Root-colonizing bacteria enhance the levels of (E)-beta-caryophyllene produced by maize roots in response to rootworm feeding (vol 187, pg 459, 2018)
  Chiriboga, MX; Guo, HJ; Campos-Herrera, R; Roder, G; Imperiali, N; Keel, C; Maurhofer, M; Turlings, TCJ
  OECOLOGIA, 187 (2):469-469; 10.1007/s00442-018-4104-8 JUN 2018
• Root-colonizing bacteria enhance the levels of (E)-beta-caryophyllene produced by maize roots in response to rootworm feeding
  Chiriboga, MX; Guo, HJ; Campos-Herrera, R; Roder, G; Imperiali, N; Keel, C; Maurhofer, M; Turlings, TCJ
  OECOLOGIA, 187 (2):459-468; https://doir.org/10.1007/s00442-017-4055-5 JUN 2018
• The evaluation of entomopathogenic nematode soil food web assemblages across Switzerland reveals major differences among agricultural, grassland and forest ecosystems
  Jaffuel, G; Blanco-Perez, R; Hug, AS; Chiriboga, X; Meuli, RG; Mascher, F; Turlings, TCJ; Campos-Herrera, R
  AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, 262 48-57; 10.1016/j.agee.2018.04.008 JUL 15 2018
• An herbivore-induced plant volatile reduces parasitoid attraction by changing the smell of caterpillars
  Ye, M; Veyrat, N; Xu, H; Hu, LF; Turlings, TCJ; Erb, M
  SCIENCE ADVANCES, 4 (5):10.1126/sciadv.aar4767 MAY 2018
• Development of Asian parasitoids in larvae Of Drosophila Suzukii feeding on blueberry and artificial diet
  Girod, P; Rossignaud, L; Haye, T; Turlings, TCJ; Kenis, M
  JOURNAL OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY, 142 (5):483-494; 10.1111/jen.12496 JUN 2018
• Priming of cowpea volatile emissions with defense inducers enhances the plant's attractiveness to parasitoids when attacked by caterpillars 
  Sobhy, Islam S.; Bruce, Toby J. A.; Turlings, Ted C. J.
  PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, 74 (4): 966-977 APR 2018 Article (Details)
• Fine-tuning the 'plant domestication-reduced defense' hypothesis: specialist vs generalist herbivores 
  Gaillard, Mickael D. P.; Glauser, Gaetan; Robert, Christelle A. M.; et al. 
  NEW PHYTOLOGIST, 217 (1): 355-366 JAN 2018 Article (Details)
• Tritrophic Interactions Mediated by Herbivore-Induced Plant Volatiles: Mechanisms, Ecological Relevance, and Application Potential 
  Turlings, Ted C. J.; Erb, Matthias 
  ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY, VOL 63, 63: 433-452 2018 Review; Book Chapter (Details)
• Improved separation by at-column dilution in preparative hydrophilic interaction chromatography 
  Jaffuel, Geoffrey; Chappuis, Laura; Guillarme, Davy; et al. 
  JOURNAL OF CHROMATOGRAPHY A, 1532: 136-143 JAN 12 2018 Article (Details)
• With or without you: Effects of the concurrent range expansion of an herbivore and its natural enemy on native species interactions 
  Carrasco, David; Desurmont, Gaylord A.; Laplanche, Diane; et al. 
  GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, 24 (2): 631-643 FEB 2018 Article (Details)

• Plant-insect interactions
• Induced plant defenses
• Evolutionary ecology of tritrophic interactions
• Assessment of transgenic crops

• Crop protection 
• Applied entomology 
• Agroecology
• Metabolomics
• Biodiversity