Plants use an array of secondary metabolites to defend themselves against harmful organisms and to attract others that are beneficial. However, the attraction of beneficial organisms could also lead to abuse by malevolent organisms. An exciting example of such abuse is the relationship between plants, beneficial mutualistic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and harmful parasitic plants. Signalling m...

Plant traits can influence the interactions between herbivore arthropods and their natural enemies. In these interactions generalist predators are often present, preying on herbivores and also on other arthropods in the same trophic guild. Variation in the strength of intraguild predation (IGP) may be related to habitat structural complexity and to additional resources outside the narrow predat...

leech therapy was popular for many centuries. while many research studies have supported the medical use of hirudo medicinalis, other species have not received that much attention. due to the large demand and lack of supply, more research is needed to justify the medical use of other species. ibn al quffprovided general guidelines on differentiating between the beneficial and toxic types of lee...

Testing side-effects on beneficial organisms is increasingly important in the development of new pesticides and the reregistration of old active ingredients in Europe. This testing is partly done for regulatory assessment of potential risks to terrestrial, non-target arthropods, which are an important part of the environment, both in and out of crop fields. Tests are designed to determine the e...