From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>, Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group <SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
Subject: [permaculture] BBC News - Plants send SOS signal to insects
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 19:21:13 -0400
BBC News - Plants send SOS signal to insects http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11101536
27 August 2010 Last updated at 05:31 ET
Plants send SOS signal to insects
By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News
Tobacco plant with Geocoris insect, its tobacco hornworm caterpillar and
two caterpillar eggs (Image: Max Planck Insitute for Chemical Ecology)
When the plant releases its chemical signal Geocoris insects (bottom,
left) come to the rescue
Plants can summon insects to their aid to avoid being munched to death
by caterpillars, scientists have found.
Leafy tobacco plants have evolved a "chemical SOS" that attracts
predatory insects that eat the attackers.
In the journal Science, researchers revealed that the caterpillars'
saliva activates this signal.
The modified signal causes Geocoris insects, which feed on the
caterpillar larvae and eggs, to swoop in - rescuing the plant and
gaining a meal.
The work was carried out by Silke Allmann of the Swammerdam Institute
for Life Sciences in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Ian Baldwin of the Max
Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany.
[permaculture] BBC News - Plants send SOS signal to insects,
Lawrence F. London, Jr., 08/27/2010