Honeydew microbial ecology: A neglected frontier in multitrophic networks

Clicks: 24
ID: 327731
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #62 of 108 articles by views in fems microbiology ecology

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract Honeydew, the sugary excretion produced by sap-feeding Hemiptera, is one of the most common carbohydrate resources in many plant-based food webs. Honeydew supports a wide range of organisms, including ants, pollinators, (hyper-)parasitoids wasps, predatory insects, and microbes. As a sugar-rich resource, honeydew is frequently colonized by specific microbes (i.e., bacteria and fungi), which consume its sugars and other nutritional constituents. Recent research suggests that microbes within honeydew may modify its traits. Thereby driving microbial succession and acting as important “hidden players” in multitrophic ecological interactions. Yet its role as a dynamic microbial habitat remains largely unexplored. Here, we synthesize current evidence on the microbial ecology of honeydew and propose that honeydew is a dynamic rapidly changing microbial habitat. We further propose a four-stage successional model to frame its temporal dynamics. We discuss how the honeydew microbiome alters nutritional composition. Further, we discuss how the honeydew microbiome may mediate multitrophic interactions through the emission of volatile organic compounds that attract natural enemies of honeydew-producing insects. We propose that this process may pose a trade-off between the microbial secondary metabolism and its dispersal capacity of some microbes. We aim to stimulate research that will establish honeydew microbial ecology as a new frontier in plant-insect-microbe interactions.
Reference Key
openalex_W7211925240 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Francine A C van Neerbos, Antonino Cusumano, Bart Lievens, Maite Fernández de Bobadilla
Are you one of these authors? Claim your profile
Journal fems microbiology ecology
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/femsec/fiag104
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiag104
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.