Deceptive flowers: How flowers use scent, nectar to manipulate pollinators, herbivores

When plants advertise for pollinators they frequently also attract herbivores. Scientists have demonstrated in field trials that the flowers of the coyote tobacco Nicotiana attenuata are able to solve this dilemma. The researchers showed that when flowers produce both scent and nectar and are visited by three different pollinators, their outcrossing increases. Moreover, both floral traits influenced oviposition by the hawkmoth Manduca sexta.

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