What are Some Herbivore Adaptations to Plant Defense?
Herbivores use five main categories of strategies to evade plant defense and consume the plant: mechanical adaptations (such as teeth), biochemical adaptations, behavioral adaptations, microbial symbionts, and host manipulation. All are generally used simultaneously, though to a greater or lesser extent depending on the species. All are generally characterized as offensive adaptations, as the herbivore launches the attack on the plant, except in the rare case of carnivorous plants. Just like interaction between predators and prey, the interaction between herbivores and the plants they eat is an evolutionary arms race. Plants use various defenses to discourage herbivores from eating them — physical defenses like spines, efforts to make themselves less palatable, noxious chemicals (called secondary metabolic products) designed to halt the herbivore, and other strategies. At the same time, herbivores evolve various strategies to circumvent plant defense. Current plants have batteries of
