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<DIV class="topic content_description print">Pollinator manipulators </DIV>
<DIV class="content_authors print">By <A class="anonymous print"
href="http://www.sciencenews.org/view/authored/id/62/name/Rachel_Ehrenberg">Rachel
Ehrenberg</A></DIV>
<DIV class="content_edition print"><SPAN class=exclusive>Web edition</SPAN> : <A
class=anonymous title="Thursday, August 28th, 2008">Thursday, August 28th,
2008</A></DIV>
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<DIV class="content_summary print">Plant laces nectar with poison to better
control visitors</DIV>
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<DIV class=inset_text><SPAN></SPAN><SPAN class=description>The wild tobacco
lures pollinators, such as hummingbirds, with a suite of floral traits that
includes chemical attractants. The plants' nectar is also laced with poisonous
nicotine that prevents visitors from loitering at a single flower for too long,
a new study finds. <A title="Pollinator manipulators"
href="http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/36010/title/Pollinator_manipulators">Full
Story</A></SPAN><SPAN class=credit>D. Kessler</SPAN></DIV></DIV>
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Scientists investigating a desert weed have uncovered a high-stakes world of
gambling, sex and poison-laced cocktails. The study, appearing in the Aug. 29
<EM>Science</EM>, details how a species of wild tobacco cunningly manipulates
its pollinators for the sake of the plant’s children.
<P class=MsoNormal><O:P></O:P>The research, which was done with “surgical
precision,” demonstrates that the plants take an active role in their fate,
comments Rob Raguso of <ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:PLACENAME
w:st="on">Cornell</ST1:PLACENAME> <ST1:PLACETYPE
w:st="on">University</ST1:PLACETYPE></ST1:PLACE>. “They are behaving — they are
not passive players,” he says. “These plants are calling the shots.”</P>
<P class=MsoNormal><O:P></O:P>It shouldn’t come as a surprise that plants, like
other organisms, make an effort to “outcross” — mixing their genes with an
unrelated mate — to get variation that could improve the odds that their young
will survive. But for the most part, plants can’t move. So they must manipulate
the postmen, the pollinators that deliver sperm and take it away, says Ian
Baldwin, who did the new work with colleagues Danny Kessler and Klaus Gase.
Hummingbirds and hawk moths play this role for the wild tobacco<EM> Nicotiana
attenuata.</EM>
<P class=MsoNormal><O:P></O:P><SPAN></SPAN>Previous work by Baldwin, of the Max
Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in <ST1:PLACE w:st="on"><ST1:CITY
w:st="on">Jena</ST1:CITY>, <ST1:COUNTRY-REGION
w:st="on">Germany</ST1:COUNTRY-REGION></ST1:PLACE>, revealed that benzyl acetone
is the dominant pollinator attractant in the wild tobacco’s flowers. The
researchers also learned that the plant spikes its nectar with nicotine, perhaps
as a poisonous deterrent to flower-eating insects or nectar robbers.
<P class=MsoNormal><O:P></O:P>To investigate the influence of floral chemistry,
the researchers created plants that did not produce either benzyl acetone or
nicotine, or both. In greenhouse and field experiments, the scientists were
surprised to find that not only did nicotine deter nectar robbers and plant
nibblers, but the right dose prevented pollinators from lingering too long at
any one flower, increasing the number of flowers visited.
<P class=MsoNormal><O:P></O:P>“It’s not just a matter of the flowers saying
‘Hello, we are here, would you like a soft drink?’<SPAN arial="" unicode=""
ms="" ;=""> </SPAN>” says <ST1:PLACE w:st="on">Baldwin</ST1:PLACE>. “It is a
pretty conniving soft drink.”
<P class=MsoNormal><O:P></O:P>Plants with the right cocktail had the biggest
seed capsules as well, directly linking floral chemistry to fitness, the
researchers report.
<P class=MsoNormal><O:P></O:P>The little wild tobacco is an annual, the
researchers note; it has one season to grow, make seeds and die. If all else
fails, the plant can successfully self-pollinate. But that doesn’t keep it from
hedging its bets.
<P class=MsoNormal><O:P></O:P>“It’s a good investor,” Raguso says. “It has a
well-diversified portfolio.” </P><BR></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Verdana color=#0000a0 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B><I>PLEASE CAST YOUR VOTE FOR THE AMERICAN EXPRESS Members Project
by Sept. 1! It is simple, free and helps our work supporting bee
research.</FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Verdana color=#000000 size=2
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PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><BR>Laurie Davies Adams<BR>Executive
Director<BR><B>Pollinator Partnership </B><BR>423 Washington Street, 5th
floor<BR>San Francisco, CA
94111<BR>415-362-1137<BR>LDA@pollinator.org</FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial
color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#0000ff size=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="14"><B><A
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PTSIZE="10"></B><BR><A
href="http://www.nappc.org/">www.nappc.org</A><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
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PTSIZE="12"><B><I>National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2009. <BR>Beecome
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href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></I></FONT></B></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">It's only a deal if it's where <I>you</I> want to go. Find your travel deal <A title="http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047" href="http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv00050000000047" target="_blank"><B>here</B></A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>