All articles tagged with #herbivory
A 307-million-year-old skull recovered from a fossilized tree stump in Nova Scotia reveals grinding teeth suited for plants in Tyrannoroter heberti, pushing back the origin of herbivory among land vertebrates to the Carboniferous and suggesting multiple independent plant-eating lineages.
Trees detect being browsed or chewed by insects, piercing-and-sucking bugs, and even pathogens or nearby stressed trees, using cues from mouthparts, vibrations, saliva, microbes, and emitted signals. In response they boost chemical defenses such as tannins and phenolics, grow tougher leaves, and release volatile compounds to recruit predators of their attackers; some species even share pest information with neighbors to bolster collective defenses, though drought and climate stress can blunt these responses (e.g., Aleppo pines). The piece also engages with questions about tree “feelings” and references Peter Wohlleben’s ideas about the hidden life of trees.
Cornell scientists have discovered that goldenrod plants exhibit a form of intelligence by sensing nearby plants through far-red light ratios and adapting their responses to herbivores. This adaptive behavior, including emitting chemicals to signal neighboring plants to produce defenses, challenges traditional notions of intelligence and suggests that plants can process environmental information and respond flexibly.