Herbivore defense in ferns

They dominated the earth for 200 million years and numerous different species can still be found all over the world: mosses, horsetails and ferns. Researchers have now found out that bracken ferns do not release any volatiles when they are attacked − unlike many of the now dominant and evolutionary younger flowering plants. Such an emission of volatile compounds may attract the pest insects’ enemies, such as ichneumon wasps or predatory bugs, that parasitize herbivores. Nevertheless, volatile emission could be also elicited in fern fronds, if they had been treated with plant hormone jasmonic acid.

Read the whole article on Science Daily

More from Science Daily