부산대학교 도서관

Plants provide chemical cues that are specific for species, plant organs and the (a)biotic environmental conditions. Insects exploit these cues for various purposes, such as habitat and host plant location, host quality assessment, aggregation, mate finding and location of herbivorous prey. The process of sensing plant infochemicals may be described as multi‐stage filtering that starts at the surface and pores of the sensory organs, continues in the sensillum lumen, with its aqueous phase containing carrier molecules, and molecular receptors in the dendritic membranes of the actual sensory cells. This chemosensory input elicits behavioural responses to plant odour that depend on chemical background information, on habitat features determining how chemical cues travel through space, and on the physiological, as well as motivational, state of the insect. Hence, insect olfactory orientation by plant odours is mediated by a fine‐tuneable olfactory system that is continuously adjusted to the actual needs of the insect.