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Declining snow cover is reshaping ecological communities. Early loss of snow cover initiates changes in key interactions that mediate herbivore abundance, i.e., top-down and bottom-up effects. In this study, we used a field experiment to test the effects of host plant water stress and phenology on the multitrophic interactions that determine aphid abundance. The aphid, Aphis asclepiadis, in our study system colonizes the flowering stalks of the host plant Ligusticum porteri and relies on a protection mutualism with ants. We added snow and water to replicate host plants and tested for a variety of phenological and physiological responses to these treatments. Relative to host plants in ambient conditions, both water and snow addition reduced key signals of water stress (senescence and abscisic acid levels) and increased seed set. While aphid colonies were generally larger with reduced host plant water stress, the ant–aphid mutualism interacted with plant quality in complex ways. Without ant tending, we did not detect differences in aphid colony growth with host plant treatment. When tended by ants, aphid colony growth was greatest on host plants with snow addition. Host plant quality also altered the benefits exchanged in this mutualism. Ant-tended colonies hosted by plants with snow addition produced honeydew enriched in trehalose, which may have decreased both ant and natural enemy abundance. Our results suggest that early loss of snow reduces aphid abundance by creating low-quality, water-stressed host plants, and this effect may be exacerbated by natural enemies and the costs of ant attendance.

Past analyses of sugar and amino acid composition of aphid honeydews have been completed using diverse instrumentation. Here we report the use of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) coupled with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometric (MS/MS) detector for the analysis of seven saccharides (xylose, fructose, glucose, sucrose, trehalose, melezitose and raffinose) and five amino acids (glutamic acid, glutamine, aspartic acid, serine, and asparagine). Limits of quantitation ranged from 0.05 mg/L (melezitose) to 1.0 mg/L (fructose) for sugars and from 0.10 mg/L (glutamic acid) to 3.66 mg/L (asparagine) for amino acids. Sample preparation was fast and simple, requiring only the washing of foils used to collect aphid honeydew with hot (80 °C) water and sonication of samples prior to HILIC/MS/MS analysis for both classes of analytes. No analyte derivatization was required and excellent chromatographic characteristics were observed. For those studying honeydew-mediated interactions in the field, this technique allows for rapid characterization of ecologically important amino acids and sugars.•Composition of seven saccharides in Aphis asclepiadis honeydew including xylose, fructose, glucose, sucrose, trehalose, melezitose,and raffinose, and five standard amino acids including glutamic acid, glutamine, aspartic acid, serine, and asparagine, were analyzed using hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.•All polar analytes were analyzed without derivatization using HILIC-MS with chromatographic run times of 7 min (sugars) and 10 min (amino acids)., Graphical abstract Image, graphical abstract

Ligusticum porteri (osha) is an important wild-harvested medicinal plant. Populations of this plant occur in meadows and forest understories in the subalpine and montane zones of the Rocky Mountains. We examined variation in the bioactive compounds of 44 methanolic extracts of L. porteri roots harvested from eleven populations in Colorado, USA during 2012 and 2015. Populations were found in two distinct regions of Colorado, the Front Range and Western Slope. We also classified population light environment as either meadow or understory based on the mean percent of full-sun photosynthetically active radiation above plants. We used high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to quantify variation in five secondary metabolites: Z-ligustilide, trans-ferulic acid, (Z/E)-3-butylidenephthalide, isovanillin and elemicin. Variation between sampling years was found for trans-ferulic acid, elemicin and (E)-3-butylidenephthalide. Root extracts from the Front Range had more than double the mean relative concentrations of (Z)-ligustilide than root extracts from plants on the Western Slope of Colorado. Our results demonstrate distinct chemotypes in L. porteri, and this could have therapeutic effects because (Z)-ligustilide is the major bioactive compound in this species.

Analysis of whiskey samples prepared by a green microextraction technique, dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME), before analysis by a qualitative gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method, is described as a laboratory experiment for an upper division instrumental methods of analysis laboratory course. Here, aroma compounds in whiskey samples (n = 11) were extracted using ultrasound-assisted DLLME with chloroform (as extraction solvent). The chloroform extract was analyzed by GC/MS with data manipulation by AMDIS (automated mass spectral deconvolution and identification system) to allow for comparisons between whiskey samples. Aroma compounds commonly reported in the literature (furfural, isoamyl acetate, 5-methyl furfural, ethyl esters, phenylethyl alcohol, whiskeylactone, and vanillin) were tentatively identified based upon the match to the MS library. This unique laboratory allows students to engage in a real-world analysis of a high-value product and to explore the use of AMDIS to...

The development of an alternative dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction protocol utilizing a low-density extraction solvent, toluene, is described here for the extraction of the brominated flame retardant, tetrabromobisphenol-A, from dust prior to selected ion monitoring analysis by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. Method parameters of dispersive solvent type and extraction solvent type were optimized. Excellent recovery (88.9%; n = 5 spike replicates) with good precision was achieved in a spike and recovery study. This developed method was utilized to survey tetrabromobisphenol-A concentrations in dust sampled from a local electronics recycling facility from the ambient environment and 20 computer towers undergoing recycling. Concentrations of tetrabromobisphenol-A from dust in computer towers ranged from not detected (n = 2) up to 64 μg/g with a mean value of 11 μg/g and median of 4.1 μg/g tetrabromobisphenol-A. A composite sample of dust collected from the ambient indoor environment was analyzed with a resulting concentration of 36 μg/g. This is the first application of this novel green method for pre-concentrating flame retardants from dust and the first report of tetrabromobisphenol-A concentrations at a U.S.-based electronics recycling facility.