The thorns on the stem of this rose plant, serve as a mechanical defense against herbivory.
Plants have evolved an enormous array of mechanical, chemical and protein–based defenses against the animals that eat them.
Plants represent a rich source of nutrients for many organisms including bacteria, fungi, protists, insects, and vertebrates.
Although lacking an immune system comparable to animals, plants have developed a stunning array of structural, chemical, and protein–based defenses designed to detect invading organisms and stop them before they are able to cause extensive damage. Humans depend almost exclusively on plants for food, and plants provide many important non–food products including wood, dyes, textiles, medicines, cosmetics, soaps, rubber, plastics, inks, and industrial chemicals. Understanding how plants defend themselves from pathogens and herbivores is essential in order to protect our food supply and develop highly disease–resistant plant species.
Plants have evolved an enormous array of mechanical, chemical and protein–based defenses against the animals that eat them. Like animals, plants are also exposed to a wide variety of enemy organisms, which can damage the plants. These organisms include insect pests, nematodes, pathogenic fungi, bacterium, viruses and many other organisms.