Wednesday, March 25, 2009
addictive compounds in nature
'addictive' compounds in nature
I listened to a program about bees, and their increased propensity to dance under the influence of coke.
It seemed that this tactic was a rather good one for plants to adopt, in that it would increase theirÂ
fertility, at the expense of their neighbours. A reduced amount of nectar, and a little something extra, mightÂ
be more economical for the flowers.
Obviously plants have developed many attractants, but this is the first time I have thought of using
'drugs'. I wonder how many of the biological chemicals have this as their raison d'etre.
I guess that such compunds could also have the added bonus of repelling creatures that overdose themselves.
The program gave no evolutionary message about this result.
cheers
martinW
