Plant volatiles.
Plant volatiles are the metabolites that plants release into the air. The quantities released are not trivial. Almost one-fifth of the atmospheric CO2 fixed by land plants is released back into the air each day as volatiles. Plants are champion synthetic chemists; they take advantage of their anabolic prowess to produce volatiles, which they use to protect themselves against biotic and abiotic stresses and to provide information - and potentially disinformation - to mutualists and competitors alike. As transferors of information, volatiles have provided plants with solutions to the challenges associated with being rooted in the ground and immobile.
Baldwin
Ian T
IT
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany. Baldwin@ice.mpg.de
D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D013729:Terpenes / Q000378:metabolism; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000378:metabolism*
D013729:Terpenes; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds