Volatile emissions in Persea americana in response to the stem borer Copturus aguacatae attack

Plants attacked by herbivores may change their emission of volatile compounds and become more attractive to predators and parasitoids. We investigated changes in the volatile emission of avocado plants (Persea americana Mill.) when attacked by the stem borer larvae (Copturus aguacatae Kissinger). We compared the volatiles emitted by undamaged and stem borer-damaged plants from the Hass and Criollo avocado varieties. No emissions were detected for the Hass plants under the treatments assayed, while plants from the Criollo variety emitted volatiles when undamaged but the amount of volatiles was reduced when they were damaged by C. aguacatae larvae. The ecological importance of such differences is discussed.