Re: CULT: bug spit & plant advertising
- Subject: Re: CULT: bug spit & plant advertising
- From: Linda Mann l*@volfirst.net
- Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 09:25:53 -0400
Talking about grasshoppers, Donald in Texas said:
<they seem to also have preferences among iris plants, so I think they
do distinguish between specific plants of the same species [cultivar?].
Once they find a seedling and start chewing, they will return to the
same one in the bed over and over. I wonder if it gets 'flagged'
somehow. >
Insect attacks definitely do trigger the production of chemicals that
broadcast the advertising message "come eat me, I am defenseless". I
don't know the details, but this has been well documented for several
tree/insect relationships, including the southern pine beetle and I
think spruce budworm? Seems like I remember also reading that plants
(trees) under insect attack emit chemical signals to the atmosphere that
trigger production of PR proteins in their neighbors [?search insect
pest pheromones? & plant 'communication']
Hmm - I wonder if some insects are attracted to high concentrations of
certain species specific PR proteins? Or maybe precursors of PR
proteins?
Or maybe some of the iris babies (and mature rhizomes) growing a bit 'at
the edge' (i.e., barely keeping up with growth needs via
photosynthesis), have nothing left to use to make PR proteins when they
lose all their ability to photosynthesize (i.e., all their green
leaves). Maybe they get 'stuck' in that state & either gradually die
or gradually recover. The seedlings have very little stored energy
reserves (i.e., no rhizome) so are more vulnerable.
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
Tennessee Whooping Crane Walkathon:
<http://www.whoopingcranesovertn.org>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
iris-talk/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
iris-photos/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
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