Take Home “Quiz” #1 (Due Thursday Oct. 2, 2014)
The answer for each question should be one page or less, edited, 12 pt font. Feel free
to use any resource if appropriately cited. All cited references should be on a
separate page and follow APA format.
(1) Some plants with highly toxic secondary metabolites also suffer relatively
high herbivory. Explain this apparent paradox.
(2) Why is it so difficult for plants to defend against multiple groups (e.g., large
vertebrate browsers, insect folivores, sap-feeding insects, root attacking
nematodes) of herbivores simultaneously?
(3) Why doesn’t the ‘perfect’ defense exist – in other words, why do all plants,
to some degree, suffer tissue loss to herbivores?