Plants trap pollen to feed predatory arthropods as an indirect resistance against herbivory.

Plants commonly employ indirect resistance to reduce herbivory by provisioning predatory arthropod populations with additional resources. Numerous predatory arthropods consume pollen that is entrapped on dense, wooly trichomes of plants. Over two seasons, we supplemented pollen on the wooly leaves of turkey mullein, Croton setiger, in natural populations to determine if pollen entrapped on leaves supplements predatory arthropods and reduces herbivore populations and damage to the plant.

Mirid (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) specialists of sticky plants: adaptations, interactions, and ecological implications.

Sticky plants-those having glandular trichomes (hairs) that produce adhesive, viscous exudates-can impede the movement of, and entrap, generalist insects. Disparate arthropod groups have adapted to these widespread and taxonomically diverse plants, yet their interactions with glandular hosts rarely are incorporated into broad ecological theory. Ecologists and entomologists might be unaware of even well-documented examples of insects that are sticky-plant specialists.