When Plants Attract Bugs, It May Be Their Own Fault

-Initial research in greenhouses showed that Cajun Carmine had significantly less damage from thrips than Dazzler White.
-Thrips are very tiny, sliver-like insects that are native to northwestern North America. They feed on the plants' leaves and petals and transmit devastating plant viruses
-Thrips were choosing one side over the other 50-50. Because the thrips were choosing Cajun Carmine basically 50-50, choosing Dazzler White 64 percent of the time shows they were definitely choosing the plant [Dazzler White] over the purified air.
-When specific plant volatiles are identified as attractant or repellents to specific insect pests, these volatiles can then be used as selection factors in plant breeding programs or by producers seeking to limit insect damage

Reflection: I think that its interesting to know that certain plants attract bugs that help destroy them. When I was little my dad and I planted a tree in our back yard. Every once in a while I would go out there and see that some of the leaves on the tree had holes in them. I knew that this was the work of some insect, but I never knew why exactly it happened. Now I know that it might have been the tree's fault for attracting the bugs in the first place. This concept makes some sense but it leaves me wondering if natural selection would push the chemical attracting bugs in a certain direction.


Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100517144816.htm

Picture: http://z.about.com/d/landscaping/1/0/l/C/poison_sumac_plants.jpg

Citation: University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. "When Plants Attract Bugs, It May Be Their Own Fault." ScienceDaily 17 May 2010. 17 May 2010 .