“Between Plants and Animals: examples of cooperation near and bizarre“

Presenter: Rob Paratley

The negative interactions between plants and animals are widespread and well-studied- herbivory, predation, and plants’ defensive responses. Nevertheless, there is a long record of study demonstrating animal-plant interactions where both parties benefit. Ecologists call this mutualism. Plants, fixed in place, commonly use animals to move their pollen or to eat their fruit, enabling the flow of the plants’ genes and the movement of their seeds. The plant’s end of the bargain is supplying food or other resources, or to provide a home or breeding site. Although one need look only as far as the nearby yard, meadow, or forest to see examples of such mutualisms, ecologists and evolutionary biologists have painstakingly discovered numerous complex plant-animal exchanges far afield, giving us many weird and surprising examples.

Location: Trail’s End Lodge

This program is part of the Bluegrass Biodiversity Seminar Series, which offers free evening presentations on Kentucky’s natural history and biodiversity .