Plants contain anti-herbivore defensive chemicals which often limit the degree o
ID: 167609 • Letter: P
Question
Plants contain anti-herbivore defensive chemicals which often limit the degree of feeding by insects, as well as dictate which species of insects are capable of feeding on a specific host plant. You do an experiment where you feed multiple plants from different genera to the same insect species to test if the insect will switch to a novel host plant. What do you expect the results may be, based on your knowledge of plant-insect evolution?
Evidence suggests most insect species have little genetic variation for switching to novel host plants.
Evidence suggests that it is less likely for an insect to switch to a completely novel host.
Evidence suggests insects are more likely to eat groups of closely related plant hosts
All of the above.
Explanation / Answer
The insect plant evolution suggests that most insect species have little genetic variation for switching to novel host plants and is less likely for an insect to switch to a novel host and are more likely to eat groups of closely related plant hosts. hence the answer would be all of the above.
insects are known to have developed a pattern of host plant association coupled with different life histories and feeding strategies which is necessary for the exploitation of the host.Closely related plants support closely related insects. This can be mainly attributed due to teh evolutionary process where there is slight change but permanant change occuring in the enzyme assortment which permits the exploitation of related plants.