Relationship between chemical profiles of plants, their herbivore biodiversity and land-use

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Very little is known about the relationships between the chemical diversity, i.e. the quantitative and qualitative composition of metabolites, of a given plant species or plant community and its surrounding biodiversity or the land-use intensity. Within the first funding period, we investigated the chemodiversity of the model plant species Plantago lanceolata and detected a high chemical variation which was in some instances correlated with the mentioned environmental factors. To be able to evaluate the order of chemical variation, five plant species (herbs and grasses) will be screened for their chemical diversity and other important plant traits (photosynthetic potential, mycorrhizal status etc.) in the new proposal. In an environmental metabolic fingerprinting approach, chemical composition will be assessed in plants on plots of different land-use and after different treatments using controlled cutting, herbivory or mycorrhization. Thereby, we aim to measure common as well as differently induced metabolic changes, including signalling hormones, comparatively in the five species. By investigating the chemical diversity at this range, our study attempts to increase the understanding of this important layer of biodiversity. The complexity of data acquisition will add to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of plant regulation.