Whiteflies sabotage alarm system of plant in distress
Thursday, November 26, 2009 - 05:00
in Paleontology & Archaeology
When spider mites attack a bean plant, the plant responds by producing odours which attract predatory mites. These predatory mites then exterminate the spider mite population, thus acting as a type of 'bodyguard' for the plant. However, if the plant is simultaneously attacked by whiteflies, insects that are related to aphids, the plant becomes less attractive to the predatory mites and therefore more vulnerable to spider mites. Together with German colleagues, researchers from the Laboratory of Entomology at Wageningen University published this discovery in the reputable journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA...