Plants environmental stimuli

With the seed the independence of the next generation of plant begins. The seed, containing the new plant in miniature, is equipped with structural and physiological devices to fit it for its role as a dispersal unit and is well-provided with food reserves which sustain the young plant until a self-sufficient, autotrophic organism can be established. The embryonic plant is protected within its coverings, its metabolic activities at an extremely low ebb often not to be re-awakened until some considerable time has passed or a particular environmental stimulus experienced the new individuals may be dispersed in time as well as in space. 

While there are only a few cases of induction of chemical defenses among seaweeds, the phenomenon is very common among terrestrial plants." This discrepancy in the prevalence of inducible defenses in terrestrial vs. marine plants could be due to the different biologies of vascular terrestrial plants vs. nonvascular seaweeds (e.g., the induction stimulus from localized damage may not be efficiently translocated in seaweeds133), complex interactions between grazing damage and environmental conditions,161 or herbivore taxa studied,5 but the lesser amount of research on seaweeds relative to terrestrial plants may also explain much of the disparity. 

Figure 2 depicts just some of the known response-stimulus relationships for plant pests. Collection of the fundamental data and description of the responses with mathematical models can lead to a better understanding of pests in the field. If one knew the current environmental conditions, one could predict whether or not the potato leafhopper would increase during the next week. Final decisions would also be based on the known population dynamics of the pests of interest (see below), as well as the known interaction between the plant host and pest. 

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