title: Volatile compounds released by disturbed and calm adults of the tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris.
abstract: Volatile compounds released by disturbed and calm female and male Lygus lineolaris were collected and analyzed. Six major compounds were present in samples from disturbed bugs and from calm females: (E)-2-hexenal, 1-hexanol, (E)-2-hexenol, hexyl butyrate, (E)-2-hexenyl butyrate, and (E)-2,4-oxohexenal. (E)-2-hexenal was lacking in volatiles collected from calm males. Hexyl butyrate accounted for approximately 68% and 66% of volatiles released by agitated and calm females, and 87% and 88% of volatiles released by agitated and calm males, respectively. Blends released by disturbed insects differed quantitatively from blends released by calm insects, with amounts of compounds increasing 75-350 times in samples from disturbed insects. In static air bioassays, both females and males were repelled by natural volatiles collected from females and by five-component [(E)-2,4-oxohexenal excluded] and six-component synthetic blends at doses of 1 and 10 bug-hours, indicating that these volatiles may serve an alarm or epideictic function, as well as a possible role as defensive allomones. Adults also avoided hexyl butyrate, (E)-2-hexenyl butyrate, (E)-2-hexenol, and (E)-2,4-oxohexenal, but not 1-hexanol and (E)-2-hexenal when compounds were assayed individually in static air bioassays at doses equal to 1 bug-hour. When tested over 1 day in two-choice cage trials, adults did not prefer untreated bean plants over bean plants surrounded by vials releasing up to 8.1 mg/hr (= 234 bug-hours) of the five-component synthetic blend. Therefore, the volatiles produced by disturbed adults would not be useful as a repellent for L. lineolaris.
authors.affiliation: Center for Environmental Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Wardle
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Borden
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Pierce
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gries
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D010675:Pheromones / Q000032:analysis*; D011157:Population Dynamics; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones