INSECT pests can influence the time a flower blooms. Although flowering is
affected by the weather and the supply of nutrients and pollinators, little is
known about the impact of seed-munching pests on the evolution of flower timing,
says Diana Pilson of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.
So Pilson studied the effects of five seed pests on wild sunflowers (
Helianthus annus). She found that two early-season pests, the sunflower
moth and the sunflower bud moth, inflicted the most damage. As a result, plants
that flowered later produced most seeds (Oecologia, vol 122, p 72).
Other plants also…
