Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Additionally, these insects tend to be relatively large, long-lived, active, and frequently aggregate. [2] Indeed, longer-lived insects are more likely to be chemically defended than short lived ones, as longevity increases apparency. [9] Throughout the arthropod and insect realm, however, chemical defenses are quite unevenly distributed.
This potential, however, can hinge on a number of the insect's traits. For example, hemipteran predators can use their sucking mouthparts to make use of leaves, stems, and fruits, but spiders with chelicerae cannot. [17] Still, insects widely considered to be purely carnivorous have been observed to diverge from expected feeding behavior. [18]
Distinct signal transduction pathway are activated in response either to insect damage or mechanical damage in plants. [23] While chemicals released in wounding responses are the same in both cases, the pathway in which they accumulate are separate. Not all herbivore attack begins with feeding, but with insects laying eggs on the plant.
Many lawn weeds serve as host to developing larvae of butterflies, moths, and other insects. These in turn support thriving bird populations. Lawns cover an estimated 40 million acres in the ...
Many insects acquire toxins from their food plants; Danaus caterpillars accumulate toxic cardenolides from milkweeds (Asclepiadaceae). [56] Some prey animals are able to eject noxious materials to deter predators actively. The bombardier beetle has specialized glands on the tip of its abdomen that allows it to direct a toxic spray towards ...
They are back “after an absence of 35 years,” officials say.
Insect adhesives contain a broad spectrum of isoprenoids. These compounds have been found in defense mechanisms in some species such as termites. [4] Amino acids, peptides, and proteins are nearly always found in insects' adhesive secretions. They are employed for adhesion across many functions such as defense, locomotion and cocoon building. [4]
Chemical defense is a strategy employed by many organisms to avoid consumption by producing toxic or repellent metabolites or chemical warnings which incite defensive behavioral changes. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The production of defensive chemicals occurs in plants, fungi, and bacteria, as well as invertebrate and vertebrate animals.