Ground defenses: How do plants dodge danger while standing still?
How do you escape predators if you're tied to the ground? A little evolutionary creativity can come in handy.
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How do you escape predators if you're tied to the ground? A little evolutionary creativity can come in handy. Researchers have been on a roll lately identifying the innovative ways in which plants defend themselves, including accumulating metals from the soil into their tissues to deter would-be predators as well as sending warnings to plant neighbors about infestations. In Ecuador, researchers recently found that some plants sacrifice photosynthetic green for a variegated bleached-out pattern [right] that mimics damage dealt by young moth caterpillars that snack on the surface of the leaf [left]. Protection from predators, in this case, outweighs the loss of energy from the sun.
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