The herbivory is the relation of predation between animals and plants. It refers to those animals that consume autotrophic organisms (plants and plants). Some of these animals are horses, rabbits, elephants, tortoises, among others.
In nature there are different kinds of interactions that can happen in the same species; these are the intraspecific relationships.
Koala, heterotrophic herbivore
There can also be interactions between several species, and they are called interspecific. In this last group there may be positive or negative relationships. Herbivory would be an example of these interspecific relationships.
Interactions in herbivory
In herbivory animals feed on the living part of the plant. This is favorable for the animal, as it feeds itself. However, for plants it is harmful.
To suppress these damages, some plants have physical and mechanical defense mechanisms.
An example of a physical defense mechanism might be the rose bush, which has thorns and cannot be eaten.
In the case of mechanical defense, the chemical mechanisms stand out, which are the toxins released by the plant.
Toxins can manifest themselves in various ways. They can be unpleasant tastes or odors that scare away animals, or even poisonous vegetation can be found.
Ants can also be a defense mechanism in favor of plants. These feed on its nectar or other parts, and thus preserve it.
Vegetable adaptation
Herbivory reflects the relationship that exists between a predator and a predated being; for example, an insect and a vegetable.
From this phenomenon beneficial effects are also obtained for the plant world. Although some plant species may decrease due to the massive intake of animals, they activate their adaptive process. Some examples of this are as follows:
- Increase of foliage on plants.
- Thickening of the stems.
- Pollination for its rapid proliferation.
- Development of protective systems, such as thorns or chemical reactions.
Special types of predation in herbivory
Another prominent form of predation in herbivory is parasitism. There is a group of predatory living beings that are not dedicated to killing their prey; however, they live at its expense.
Aphids are an example of this. These organisms feed on plants without actually killing them, although in many cases they can weaken them.
Parasitoids also stand out, which act in a similar way to parasites.
The difference is that they can kill plant life. In this case, one could speak of harmful pests.
In short, plant life conditions the life of predators. They need it for survival and plant life adapts to repopulate.
When plant food abounds, animals also abound. This interaction makes the food chain possible, since the rest of living beings also take advantage of it.
It must be taken into account that without vegetation there would be no herbivores, without these there would not be carnivores and, of course, there would be no super predators.
References
- Escuelapedia. (2016). Herbivory. 2017, from Escuelapedia-didactic information Website: Escuelapedia.com
- D. Granados-Sánchez. (2008). Herbivory ecology. 2017, from the Network of Scientific Journals of Latin America and the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Website: redalyc.org
- Victoria Gonzalez. (2014). Herbivory avoidance mechanisms. 2017, from La Guía - Biología Website: biologia.laguia2000.com
- Regino Zamora, Patricio García-Fayos and Lorena Gómez-Aparicio. (2004). Plant-plant and plant-animal interactions in the context of ecological succession. 2017, from the Ministry of the Environment, EGRAF, SA, Madrid. ISBN: 84 Website: University of Valencia
- scolares.net. (2014). Predation and herbivory. 2017, from Escolares.net Website: Escuelas.net-biología