News tagged with insect herbivores

New bacteria toxins against resistant insect pests

Toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria (Bt toxins) are used in organic and conventional farming to manage pest insects. Sprayed as pesticides or produced in genetically modified plants, Bt toxins, us ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 19, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Insect gut microbe with a molecular iron reservoir

Microbes are omnipresent on earth. They are found as free-living microorganisms as well as in communities with other higher organisms. Thanks to modern biological techniques we are now able to address the ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Sep 01, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Six times more insects in tropical mountains

How many species of insects exist? Umea University researcher, Genoveva Rodriguez-Castaneda, found that in tropical mountains there are six times more insects than shown in global calculations. The insects ...

Biology / Ecology

created Sep 06, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Lethal backfire: Green odor with fatal consequences for voracious caterpillars

During field studies, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology discovered that the oral secretions of tobacco hornworm larvae contain a particular substance that promptly ...

Biology / Ecology

created Aug 26, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Making its predators tremble: Multiple defenses act synergistically in aspen

If plants did not defend themselves in some way, they would certainly be gobbled up by a whole suite of voracious predators ranging from little insects to large mammalian herbivores. Indeed, not only do plants defend themselves, ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 23, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study Affirms Importance of Insect-Eating Animals to Ecosystem Health

(PhysOrg.com) -- Lions, tigers and bears top the ecological pyramid-the diagram of the food chain that every school child knows. They eat smaller animals, feeding on energy that flows up from the base where ...

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 15, 2010 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Sex involved in plant defense

Why do some plants defend themselves from insect attacks better than others? New evidence shows that the difference might be due to whether they're getting any plant love.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 13, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0