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Nature 410, 736-737 (12 April 2001) | doi:10.1038/35071188
Making crops cry for help
John Whitfield1
Abstract
Plants attacked by hungry herbivores can release chemicals that attract their assailants' predators. Could these responses be exploited to develop environmentally friendly pest-control strategies? John Whitfield investigates.
Plants cannot run from trouble, but neither do they lie down and surrender. As well as producing a variety of noxious chemicals to deter herbivores, they can enlist help from higher up the food chain, releasing volatile chemicals that attract predators to eat the creatures that are eating them.
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