Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Trees produce antibodies against harmful fungi. But bark beetles absorb these antibodies and use them to their own advantage. And ...

Spruce bark beetle in a Norway spruce tree, infected with fungus (Image Credit: Benjamin Weiss, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology) Far from being defenceless, plants have acquired all kinds of ...

Nature gives rise to fascinating adaptations, which can sometimes lead to organisms living in some strange situations. The relationship between bark beetles, spruce trees, and a type of fungus is a ...

Spruce bark is rich in phenolic compounds that protect trees from pathogenic fungi. A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena has investigated how these plant defenses ...

Adult spruce bark beetles in their galleries in the bark of a Norway spruce tree. The beetle in the middle is infected with the fungus Beauveria bassiana. Spruce bark is rich in phenolic compounds ...

In the Thuringian Forest or the Harz Mountains, dead spruce trees (Picea abies) dot the landscape like skeletons. Many have already fallen or been cut down. These dead trees serve as memorials to the ...

Trees produce antibodies against harmful fungi. But bark beetles absorb these antibodies and use them to their own advantage. — ANDREAS ARNOLD/dpa Bark beetles can destroy spruce forests by converting ...

The insect-pathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana detoxifies the defense substances of the beetles, which originate from plant precursors, and can successfully infect these insects. To the point: • ...