1 - Food for protection: an introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2009
Summary
It has long been recognized that plants provide floral nectar and pollen to attract pollinators. In addition, plants also provide specific foods as part of a protection strategy. By producing extrafloral nectar or food bodies, plants attract predators that can act as bodyguards, clearing the plant of its antagonists. A wide range of arthropods with a primarily carnivorous lifestyle require plant-provided food as an indispensable part of their diet (Table 1.1). In some arthropod groups, the adult stages depend on nectar or pollen for survival and reproduction, whereas in other groups all stages feed on plant-provided food in addition to prey. Only recently have we started to appreciate the implications of non-prey food for plant-herbivore-carnivore interactions. Insight into these food-mediated interactions not only helps in understanding the functioning of multitrophic interactions in natural ecosystems, it also has direct implications for the use of food supplements in biological control programs. In this introductory chapter we first sketch a historical perspective on the topic of plant-provided foods. Subsequently, we present an outline of the book and briefly introduce the different chapters.
The scientific discovery of plant-provided foods
Humans have always shared the sweet tooth of many arthropods. However, for long we lacked the ability to obtain sugars directly from plants, and thus were entirely dependent on insects as intermediaries. Therefore, it is not surprising that nectar and honeydew in connection with insects attracted the attention of naturalists early on.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Plant-Provided Food for Carnivorous InsectsA Protective Mutualism and its Applications, pp. 1 - 14Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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