On 19 May 2004 07:54:02 GMT, Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article m,
Tim Challenger "timothy(dot)challenger(at)apk(dot)at" writes:
|
| There's a summary of a paper he
| http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/lin...d=hvenKPRD9TVh
| One would *think* that ants protecting aphids would damage the plant more
| than without ants. In some cases, they could be beneficial, by driving off
| other herbivores (weevils etc), which would cause more damage.

Ye gods, just imagine. A treatment to protect broad beans against
weevils could be to infect them with aphids ....

As Wilde said, the truth is rarely pure and never simple. That
could be the motto of ecologists!

Our motto was:
"If there are two theories to explain something, they're probably both
right", often changed to:
"If there's only one theory to explain something, they're probably both
right".

--
Tim C.