Defensive system, heterogeneity

I suggest that variable plant chemistry, by restricting resource availability and focusing the activities of herbivores on a few tissues, promotes compromises between food-finding and risks from natural enemies which are not readily countered by most insects. The spatial and temporal heterogeneity which appears to be common in forest trees is the most important part of the tree s defensive system, and is the only way a plant s chemical defenses can remain effective over evolutionary time. This variable impact on natural enemies may be more important in regulating consumption than any single factor can be. 

When adhesion of bacteria occurs on the surface of the prosthesis an invasive inflammatory process can be developed. If bacteria proliferation continues, a biofilm is formed, and consequently a three-dimensional structure protects bacteria against the patient s own defense system and from systemic antibiotic therapy [13]. Bacteria do not grow exponentially, but rather exist in a slow growing or starvation state. These microorganisms can produce an extracellular matrix that protects them from a hostile environment, enabling them to evade the host immune system and antibiotic treatment. This biofilm facilitates bacterial survival under nutrient-poor, stressful conditions, which occur in the host, and results in structurally-complex, heterogeneous bacterial aggregates associated with a surface [14,15]. 

The Joint Service Agent Water Monitor (JSAWM) is a funded Department of Defense program that is intended to identify, mature and develop the technology needed for specific and sensitive detection of chemical warfare agents (CWA) in source, treated, stored and distributed water supplies. According to the JSAWM criteria, a successful detection system will function in heterogeneous liquid environments, have less than a 10 minute response time with low false alarms, work in both continuous (on-line monitoring) and batch modes, be portable, small, easy to operate, and have very low power requirements. ... 

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