How does herbivory impact the survival and growth of three perennial grass species commonly used to revegetate dryland ecosystems?
Tag - plant–herbivore interactions
William Salter
Under pressure: How do plants strike a balance between growth and defense?
A novel modelling approach explores how resource availability, competition pressure and insect herbivore pressure drive selection.
Rachel Shekar
The Oaks of the North Are Unexpectedly Well-Defended
Normally you would expect plant defences to increase, the closer you get to the equator. This is where insect life is more active, and so more defence against herbivores are needed. But is this always the case? Xoaquín...
Fi Gennu
Larger apples have lower natural defences against pests
Botanists find a clear trade-off between fruit size and phytochemical production, helping to explain why our modern varieties are highly susceptible to diseases and pests.
Alex Assiry
Modelling the interaction between light competition and herbivore feeding patterns
Plants usually compete with neighbouring plants for resources such as light as well as defend themselves against herbivorous insects. This requires investment of limiting resources, resulting in optimal resource...
botanyone
How do plants know where they should defend?
If you’re a plant what is the best way to defend yourself, given that you can’t run from attackers? I’ve had a think and I went for being massive, with armour-planting, spikes, thorns and stings, along...
Alun Salt
Mechanisms behind optimal defence patterns (Invited Review)
The optimal defence hypothesis (ODH) predicts that tissues that contribute most to a plant’s fitness and have the highest probability of being attacked will be the parts best defended. In general, young tissues show...
Cyanogenesis and tissue damage in rubber tree
Cyanogenesis can act as defence against herbivores and the amount of HCN generated per unit time is crucial in its role as a feeding deterent. Kadow et al. examine linamarase and hydroxynitrile lyase in rubber tree...
