Can humans take a leaf out of the insect world?
Gaberlunzie takes his digital hat off to the gall wasp so far successfully involved in an “evolutionary arms race that has lasted for at least 40m years” and ponders what humans might learn or better adapt from such insects. Plant-eating insects apparently stick to their own tiny neighbourhoods to reduce the chances of being eaten, which accounts for why insect life is so varied. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh say this helps explain why the creatures have diversified to account for one-third of all animal species. Insects have adapted to live in particular circumstances – as the leaf or root of a plant at a particular time of year – to limit their number of potential predators. The study finds that bugs which live in similar circumstances are often attacked by the same predatory insects.
