Through an experiment that simulates future climate change conditions within the KBS LTER, researchers found that drought strongly affects the chemical compounds released by goldenrod, suggesting that climate change could significantly influence how ecosystems function.
Though you might not be able to see it with the naked eye, plants are constantly interacting with their environment. One way they do this is through the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – chemical signals that help them communicate and react to both living and non-living factors around them. These VOCs form the foundation of plant-to-plant communication and plant-insect interactions, making them a vital part of healthy ecosystems.
Climate change is expected to change plant VOCs, potentially disrupting plant signaling. Past studies have shown that drought and warming can affect VOC emissions, but we still do not know how specific species respond or which compounds are most affected.
New research from the KBS LTER, led by former Michigan State University (MSU) Integrative Biology (IBIO), and Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior (EEB) PhD student Kara Dobson, explored this question using the Rainfall Exclusion Experiment (REX) – a manipulation study within the Main Cropping System Experiment (MCSE) established in 2021.
REX is uniquely able to test the simultaneous effects of the two largest changes expected under future climate change in Michigan – warmer temperatures, and increasingly variable rainfall. The study focused on VOCs released by tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima) under varying drought and warming conditions to see how these stressors influence both the abundance and composition of VOC emissions.
Kara and co-author Phoebe Zarnetske (PI of the Spatial and Community Ecology Lab (SpaCE Lab), professor in IBIO, EEB, and Co-PI of the KBS LTER) found that drought had a much stronger impact than warming on the VOCs released by tall goldenrod. Although overall VOC profiles showed considerable overlap between climate treatments, certain compounds were strongly associated with either drought, warming, or their combination. Some of these compounds are linked to plant stress responses such as cell death, heat protection, or defense against microbes.
These results suggest that climate change could influence plant function through shifts in VOC emissions. However, the full extent of these effects remains uncertain, as many detected compounds could not be classified due to gaps in current databases and research.
Overall, this study identifies key VOCs affected by drought and warming and highlights the need for further research to understand their ecological roles. Gaining insight into how climate change alters plant communication and resilience can ultimately improve management of both agricultural and natural landscapes.
