Abstract: Ecological interactions between plants and insects are of paramount importance for the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Herbicides have long been considered a threat to plant and insect populations, but global increases in intensive agriculture and availability of herbicide-resistant crops have intensified concerns about their full impact on biodiversity. Here, we argue that exposure to sublethal herbicide doses has the potential to alter plant-insect interactions as a result of disruptions in their chemical communication. This is because herbicides interfere with biosynthetic pathways and phytohormones involved in the production of several classes of plant volatiles that mediate plant-insect chemical communication. Sublethal herbicide doses can modify the morphological and life-history plant traits and affect interactions with insects. However, the potential changes in plant volatiles and their consequences for plant-insect chemical communication have not yet received as much attention. We discuss how target-site (disruptors of primary metabolism) and non-target-site (synthetic auxins) herbicides could alter the production of plant volatiles and disrupt plant-insect chemical communication. We suggest research avenues to fill in the current gap in our knowledge that might derive recommendations and applied solutions to minimize herbicides' impacts on plant-insect interactions and biodiversity.

Key words: chemical communication, herbicides, plant-insect interactions, plant volatiles, sublethal exposure