New publication from Medina-van Berkum et al. in PNAS: Plant diversity influences plant volatile emission with varying effects at the species and community levels

Plant volatiles are key info-chemicals mediating plant–environment interactions, but their role in biodiversity–ecosystem functioning relationships remains unknown. Using an experimental grassland, we studied how plant diversity affects volatile release at both the community level and the species level. We demonstrate that with increasing plant diversity, the amount and diversity of volatiles released by the community increase. While volatile profiles of the focal species Plantago lanceolata did not directly respond to plant diversity, they were indirectly influenced by the surrounding community emissions. Our findings show that plant diversity shapes community-level volatile emissions and, in turn, alters the release of volatiles from individual plants, revealing a route through which biodiversity can affect ecosystem functioning.

Studies have investigated the interactions between plants through competition and resource sharing to understand the mechanisms behind the positive effects of plant diversity on productivity. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important info-chemicals in plant–plant interactions, but they have so far rarely been considered in this context. Here, we measured VOC emissions at the community scale and for one species (Plantago lanceolata) in experimental plant communities of varying diversity (The Jena Experiment) to understand the role of VOCs in driving biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships. We show that plant diversity determines the release of plant VOCs at both scales. At the community level, plant species richness directly enhanced VOC emission and increased VOC richness both directly and indirectly by altering leaf area index. At the species level, plant diversity did not directly affect the VOC emissions of P. lanceolata but indirectly affected it by influencing the VOC emissions from the surrounding community. P. lanceolata individuals in communities with high concentrations of green leaf volatiles decreased their VOC emission, while those in communities with high concentrations of terpenoids increased their VOC diversity. Our results provide evidence that plant diversity shapes community-level plant VOC emission and thus influences focal plant VOC emission inside the community.

A two-part figure shows volatile organic compound profiles. Part A shows presence or absence of V O C. Part B shows rank abundance curves of V O C. — Volatile organic compound (VOC) profiles at the community level across the plant diversity gradient. Headspace VOC emission of experimental grassland communities was collected with a push–pull system (*SI Appendix*, Fig. S7) and analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and flame ionization detector (GC-FID). (A) Presence (colored cell) or absence (white cell) of individual VOCs across the plant diversity gradient from monocultures to 60-species mixture plant communities. Each column corresponds to a specific VOC compound, with compound names provided in *SI Appendix*, Table S2. (B) Rank-abundance curves of VOCs across the experimental plant diversity gradient. Each dot (color-coded by compound class) represents a VOC. Emission (µg h⁻¹) was used as abundance.

Reference:

Medina-van Berkum, P., C. Albracht, M. Bröcher, M. D. Solbach, G. Stein, et al. 2026. Plant diversity influences plant volatile emission with varying effects at the species and community levels. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123:e2518326123. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2518326123.