The next task was narrowing down exactly which predator scent compound was terrifying the mice.
The stamens from both 'Malmaison' and 'St Anne's' produced predominantly eugenol and the petals produced mainly 2-phenylethanol, a major floral scent compound (Figure 2C).
That cis-β-ocimene is the dominant scent compound in both, the leaves and the flowers (of P. cochinchinensis; the other species was not analyzed), suggests that this is the key signal for host selection.
Using wind-tunnel bioassays, Dötterl et al. [ 13] investigated pollinators interaction with individual scent compound and uncovered that only seven (veratrole, decanal, linalool, guaiacol, phenylacetaldehyde, isopentylaldoxime, and lilac aldehydes) out of total produced compounds in S. latifolia flowers showed behavioral activity in H. bicruris.
Groups settled on grassy central reservations, skirting beds of red and yellow flowers whose scent compounded the intoxicating atmosphere.
The major scent compounds identified were those typical for Narcissus species, monoterpenes and benzenoids, here in form of cis-β-ocimene and benzyl acetate.
By using a specially made gas-absorbing cap, the researchers collected scent compounds from the heads of male goats and compared them with compounds from castrated ones.
Together, these results imply that whole spectra of light (i.e. white light) is conferred the optimal emission of scent compounds in most Phalaenopsis orchids with P. violacea background.
Many of these scents are sulfur compounds, particularly dimethyl disulfide, which is significantly more attractive to G. soricina and its congener G. commissarisi than are other floral scent compounds [16].
Floral scents are excellent examples of intrinsically variable natural odors: substantial variation in the ratios of the concentrations of scent compounds is observed even for flowers produced by the same plant [3], [9] [12].
The internal standard method was applied to calculate absolute amounts of scent compounds.
