Chemical ecology 101

What is a chemical ecology? The Nature journal would answer this question by a definition "Chemical ecology is the study integrating chemistry and biology to examine the chemical interactions among organisms and their environment". Depending on whether you are familiar with biological terms or not, this definition could be a very simple or even more confusing answer. If you find nature definition complicated, this blog is for you.

So let’s put things simple - Chemical ecology studies how organisms in nature communicate. One organism sends a message to another organism and that message is actually a chemical compound that helps organisms to communicate. And as a human being you are not excluded from this communication, whether you are aware of it or not.

Imagine being stuck in an overcrowded subway train on a hot summer day. Most of us would not enjoy finding our self in this situation. What is the first thing that comes to your mind just by thinking of it? Feeling hot? Surrounded by sweaty people? The smells? For me, it is definitely the smells. What is it about smells of overcrowded subway train on a summer day that can make us feel so unconformable? So, let us look at smells from the point of view of a chemical ecology. Smells that you can notice by your nose are chemical compounds released by the body of other passengers. Those chemical compounds enter your nose and send a massage to your brain about the object or a person that is in your surroundings.

So, what can you tell just from someone’s body odour? Actually, a lot! Just the smell of someone’s hair can take you from the memory image of running through the fields of wild flowers all the way to the smell of that forgotten onion that has been hiding for weeks behind your kitchen counter. Both these smells are bringing you a message about the other person - for example how good is their personal hygiene, their health and sometimes even about where they were before this train ride. But the most important - do you find this person likeable or not. Depending on that emotion you may even change your behaviour - you may step away from this person, step closer or not even notice the difference. This is the core of the chemical ecology: one person’s chemical message (body odour) can activate an emotional reaction in your brain that can lead you changing your behaviour (step away or come closer to that person).

In a natural environment this communication works also between different species, whether for a monkey to tell if the fruit is ripe, or for a flower to invite a bee to be pollinated or for antelope if the hungry lion is hiding close in the bushes.

This is a very common way for plants to communicate with each other and other organisms. Imagine a plant that is being eaten by a caterpillar. That plant sends a smelly message, a chemical signal to its environment about its current attack. If this chemical signal reaches organisms such as birds, the receiving message might sound something like this "I have been attacked by a caterpillar. Please come and eat it!". This way plant can defend itself from attacker by calling birds for help.

However, if this same signal reaches a neighbouring plant, then the receiving message might be somewhat different: "I am being attacked by this kind of caterpillar and in few days, when it is finished eating me, it also might come and attack you. Be prepared!". This kind of alerting message can cause neighbouring plants really to start preparing for upcoming caterpillar attack. Often neighbouring plants will activate a production of chemicals that are making them toxic or less tasty or simply not attractive to upcoming caterpillars. Similar communication can be achieved between plants upon pathogen infections, egg oviposition, or by attack of other herbivorous animals.

However, smells are just an example how chemical ecology works. In nature there are also other chemical messages being send, received, and understood between organisms.

How can chemical ecology help your cannabis business? In our work we use natural chemical signals to activate or deactivate cannabis natural production of specific chemical compounds such as cannabinoids, flavonoids and terpenoids. Or to put it simple, we extract messages created by organisms from cannabis natural environment and introduce them into greenhouses to send different messages to cannabis plants depending on a client need.

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