Red Leaves Hide Plants From Insects

a green stem with tapering and slightly curled thick red leaves of a fern in new zealand

Biological Strategy

Plants

AskNature Team

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Protect From Animals

Animals–organisms that range from microscopic to larger than a bus–embody a wide variety of harms to living systems, including other animals. They threaten through predation, herbivory, defense, and parasitism, and they compete for resources such as water, nutrients, and space. Any given living organism commonly faces threats from a variety of animals, requiring strategies that effectively defend from each. Trout and other bony fish, for example, escape predators by having scales made of very thin, flake-like pieces of bone covered with slippery mucus. They also have behavioral strategies such as camouflage, fast swimming, and twisting and turning to achieve release from a predator’s grip.

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Plants

Phylum Plantae (“plants”): Angiosperms, gymnosperms, green algae, and more

Plants have evolved by using special structures within their cells to harness energy directly from sunlight. There are currently over 350,000 known species of plants which include angiosperms (flowering trees and plants), gymnosperms (conifers, Gingkos, and others), ferns, hornworts, liverworts, mosses, and green algae. While most get energy through the process of photosynthesis, some are partially carnivores, feeding on the bodies of insects, and others are plant parasites, feeding entirely off of other plants. Plants reproduce through fruits, seeds, spores, and even asexually. They evolved around 500 million years ago and can now be found on every continent worldwide.

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Anthocyanins in leaves camouflage the plant from insects and make insects more vulnerable to predators by inhibiting the reflecting of green wavelengths.

“Hence, leaf anthocyanins by closing the green reflectance window left by make the leaf less discernible to insect consumers (plant camouflage hypothesis). Alternatively (or in addition), the usually green folivorous insects, if found on a red leaf, are more easily recognized by their predators (undermining of insect camouflage by the plant)…The neglected hypothesis of plant camouflage against herbivory and the recent opinion that leaf redness may undermine the green folivorous insect camouflage are theoretically more sound since they are compatible with folivorous insect vision physiology and also afford a reasonable explanation for the almost exclusive selection of red anthocyanins in leaves.” (Manetas 2006:172)