Chemical information conveyance between organisms has been well established
for a wide range of organisms including protozoa, invertebrates, vertebrat
es and plant-parasitic plants. During the past 20 years, various studies ha
ve addressed whether chemical information conveyance also occurs between da
maged and undamaged plants and many interesting pieces of evidence have bee
n presented. To date. this research field has been restricted to the questi
on whether and how plants (in general) are involved in plant-to-plant commu
nication. However, apart from mechanistic questions, evolutionary questions
should be addressed asking why plants do (or do not) exploit their neighbo
ur's information and whether their strategy is affected by e.g. environment
al conditions or previous experience. Recent progress in the field of chemi
cal information conveyance between damaged and undamaged plants warrants an
intensified study of this exciting topic in chemical ecology. (C) 2001 Els
evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.