Research on the ecological and evolutionary roles of phytochemicals has recently progressed from studying single compounds to examining chemical diversity itself. A key conceptual advance enabling this progression is the use of species diversity metrics for quantifying phytochemical diversity. In this perspective, we extend the theory developed for species diversity to further our understanding of what exactly phytochemical diversity is and how its many dimensions impact ecological and evolutionary processes. First, we discuss the major dimensions of phytochemical diversity - richness, evenness, functional diversity, and alpha, gamma and beta diversity. We describe their potential independent roles in biotic interactions and the practical challenges associated with their analysis. Second, we re-analyse the published and unpublished datasets to reveal that the phytochemical diversity experienced by an organism (or observed by a researcher) depends strongly on the scale of the interaction and the total amount of phytochemicals involved. We argue that we must account for these frames of reference to meaningfully understand diversity. Moving from a general notion of phytochemical diversity as a single measure to a precise definition of its multidimensional and multiscale nature yields overlooked testable predictions that will facilitate novel insights about the evolutionary ecology of plant biotic interactions.

中文翻译：

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植物化学多样性的许多方面：将理论与实践联系起来。

最近，关于植物化学物质的生态和进化作用的研究已从研究单一化合物发展到研究化学多样性本身。实现这一进展的关键概念进展是使用物种多样性指标来量化植物化学多样性。从这个角度出发，我们扩展了为物种多样性开发的理论，以进一步了解植物化学多样性的确切含义以及其许多维度如何影响生态和进化过程。首先，我们讨论植物化学多样性的主要方面-丰富性，均匀性，功能多样性以及α，γ和β多样性。我们描述了它们在生物相互作用中的潜在独立作用以及与它们的分析相关的实际挑战。第二，我们重新分析已公开和未公开的数据集，以揭示生物体经历的（或研究人员观察到的）植物化学多样性在很大程度上取决于相互作用的程度和所涉及的植物化学物质的总量。我们认为，我们必须考虑这些参考框架，以有意义地理解多样性。从一般的植物化学多样性概念作为单一手段转变为对其多维和多尺度性质的精确定义，可以忽略可检验的预测，这些预测将有助于植物生物相互作用的进化生态学的新见解。我们认为，我们必须考虑这些参考框架，以有意义地理解多样性。从一般的植物化学多样性概念作为单一手段转变为对其多维和多尺度性质的精确定义，可以忽略可检验的预测，这些预测将有助于植物生物相互作用的进化生态学的新见解。我们认为，我们必须考虑这些参考框架，以有意义地理解多样性。从一般的植物化学多样性概念作为单一手段转变为对其多维和多尺度性质的精确定义，可以忽略可检验的预测，这些预测将有助于植物生物相互作用的进化生态学的新见解。