Winter school ‘Ecology of plant VOCs'

Winter school ‘Ecology of plant VOCs'

11-15 November 2008
Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Organizers: Marcel Dicke, Joop J.A. van Loon, Harro J. Bouwmeester, and Claudius van de Vijver

This winterschool will be organized on behalf of the ESF programme VOCBAS with input from the graduate schools ‘Production Ecology and Resource Conservation' and ‘Experimental Plant Sciences'.

Plants emit a variety of Volatile Organic Compounds that play an important role in the interactions of plants with biotic and abiotic stressors. In this winter school we will bring together leading scientists in different fields related to the molecular ecology and ecophysiology of plant VOCs. The goal is to integrate approaches at different levels of biological integration to provide PhD students with a stimulating environment to develop ideas on a comprehensive view of the ecology of plant VOCs.

Application
This winter school is meant for PhD students who are working in Europe in the field covered by the topic of the Winter school. Participants are expected to play an active role in the course by presenting their own research and participating in and leading discussions after key-note presentations which have been prepared based on literature supplied beforehand. Participants must be present throughout the course. Arrival will be on 11 November and departure will be on 15 November.

All local costs will be covered and a part of the travel costs will be reimbursed.

For information please contact Dr. Claudius van de Vijver (claudius.vandevijver@wur.nl). The number of places available is limited.

Registration can be done through the website of PE&RC (www.pe-rc.nl -> Courses and Activities ) or by sending an e-mail to Petra.vanBoetzelaer@wur.nl with the following information:

1) Your name
2) Your professional Status: PhD student, post doc, other
3) Home Institute, department, bode number and full address:
4) Name Graduate School:
5) Approved TSP (Education Plan): Yes / No
6) Financial project number:

Scientific Summary
Plants emit a large variety and large amounts of Volatile Organic Compounds into the atmosphere. For instance, terrestrial plants are estimated to release about 500 Tg of carbon per year as isoprene, and probably a similar amount of carbon as monoterpenes. Other plant volatiles include e.g. green leaf volatiles, nitrogen containing compounds and aromatic compounds. VOCs play a dominant role in the ecology of plants, including their interactions with abiotic as well as biotic factors. The emission of plant volatiles occurs both aboveground and belowground. Part of this volatile emission occurs constitutively, while other compounds are emitted in response to biotic or abiotic stress.

Plants are members of complex communities that consist of organisms ranging from microorganisms to mammals and they have evolved intricate mechanisms to defend themselves against attackers and engage in beneficial interactions with organisms such as mycorrhizal fungi, pollinators and carnivorous arthropods. In addition, abiotic stresses such as ozone or temperature shock may influence a plant's physiology including the emission of volatiles. The biology of plant VOCs has often been investigated in separate contexts, such as the context of abiotic stress, or biotic stress, or at the level of subcellular mechanisms such as biosynthesis or at the level of ecological interactions between community members. In recent years plant VOCs have increasingly been investigated at different levels of biological integration in a concerted way, giving rise to a molecular ecological approach to the function of plant VOCs. This has often been done separately for biotic and abiotic stresses but recent developments have shown an increased interest in integrating the effects of biotic and abiotic stress on plant volatiles and vice versa. This has shown that students of the effects of abiotic and biotic stress on plants can learn a lot from an integrative approach. This is even more urgent because of the rapid global climate change that influences the levels of abiotic and biotic stresses directly as well as indirectly.

In this winter school PhD students will be exposed to state-of-the art information on the role of biotic and abiotic stresses on plant VOC biosynthesis and emission on the one hand and the effects of phenotypic plasticity in VOC biosynthesis and emission on ecological interactions on the other. Leading scientists in the fields of plant biology, plant physiology, plant molecular biology, ecology, behavioural ecology and multitrophic interactions will present recent developments within their fields with the specific aim of integrating their knowledge for an audience of PhD students.

Meeting Programme
The meeting will bring together 10 leading scientists plus ca 20-25 PhD students. Both invited keynote speakers and PhD students will be expected to attend the whole meeting, present their own research and ideas and to participate in formal and informal discussions. There will be intensive contacts between speakers and PhD students so as to allow the PhD students to fully benefit from the exposure to the keynote speakers.
Invited speakers will present their work in the mornings, while student presentations, followed by in-depth discussions with keynote speakers and other students, is scheduled in the afternoons.
Speakers are requested to send 3-5 pdf's of publications before the meeting and each student will be supplied with the pdf's of one speaker to prepare for leading the discussion with the keynote speaker.All meals will be held collectively to stimulate interactions between students and keynote speakers.

11 November - Arrival
12 November - Day 1: Plant VOCs and abiotic stress
13 November - Day 2: Plant VOCs and biotic stress
14 November - Day 3: Plant VOCs interactions with biotic and abiotic stresses
15 November - departure

List of speakers
Plant VOCs and abiotic stress
Dr. F. Loreto (CNR, Roma, Italy)
Prof. J.-P. Schnitzler (Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany)
Dr. M. Lerdau (Univ. Virginia, Charlottesville, USA)

Plant VOCs and biotic stress
Prof. M. Hilker (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany)
Dr. N.M. van Dam (Netherlands Institute of Ecology, the Netherlands)
Prof. S.S. Liu (Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)
Dr. J. Ton (Rothamsted Research, UK)
Prof. W. Boland (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany)

Plant VOCs interactions with biotic and abiotic stresses
Prof. J.K. Holopainen (University of Kuopio, Finland)
Prof. J. Gershenzon (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany)