title: Herbivory by an Outbreaking Moth Increases Emissions of Biogenic Volatiles and Leads to Enhanced Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation Capacity.
abstract: In addition to climate warming, greater herbivore pressure is anticipated to enhance the emissions of climate-relevant biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from boreal and subarctic forests and promote the formation of secondary aerosols (SOA) in the atmosphere. We evaluated the effects of Epirrita autumnata, an outbreaking geometrid moth, feeding and larval density on herbivore-induced VOC emissions from mountain birch in laboratory experiments and assessed the impact of these emissions on SOA formation via ozonolysis in chamber experiments. The results show that herbivore-induced VOC emissions were strongly dependent on larval density. Compared to controls without larval feeding, clear new particle formation by nucleation in the reaction chamber was observed, and the SOA mass loadings in the insect-infested samples were significantly higher (up to 150-fold). To our knowledge, this study provides the first controlled documentation of SOA formation from direct VOC emission of deciduous trees damaged by known defoliating herbivores and suggests that chewing damage on mountain birch foliage could significantly increase reactive VOC emissions that can importantly contribute to SOA formation in subarctic forests. Additional feeding experiments on related silver birch confirmed the SOA results. Thus, herbivory-driven volatiles are likely to play a major role in future biosphere-vegetation feedbacks such as sun-screening under daily 24 h sunshine in the subarctic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, University of Eastern Finland , P.O. Box 1626, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.|Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland , P.O. Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Pasi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yli-Pirilä
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences , Kreutzwaldi 1, 51014 Tartu, Estonia.|Institute of Technical and Natural Sciences, Research-Development of Aurel Vlaicu University , 2 Elena Dragoi Street, 310330 Arad, Romania.
authors.forename: Lucian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Copolovici
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences , Kreutzwaldi 1, 51014 Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kännaste
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences , Kreutzwaldi 1, 51014 Tartu, Estonia.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noe
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland , P.O. Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Blande
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, University of Eastern Finland , P.O. Box 1626, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Santtu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mikkonen
authors.affiliation: Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku , 20014 Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Tero
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Klemola
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland , P.O. Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Juha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pulkkinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, University of Eastern Finland , P.O. Box 1626, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Annele
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Virtanen
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, University of Eastern Finland , P.O. Box 1626, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.|Finnish Meteorological Institute , P.O. Box 503, 00101 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laaksonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, University of Eastern Finland , P.O. Box 1626, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Jorma
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Joutsensaari
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences , Kreutzwaldi 1, 51014 Tartu, Estonia.|Estonian Academy of Sciences , Kohtu 6, 10130 Tallinn, Estonia.
authors.forename: Ülo
authors.initials: Ü
authors.lastname: Niinemets
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland , P.O. Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Jarmo K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Holopainen
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols; D000818:Animals; D029662:Betula; D060434:Herbivory; D009036:Moths; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds