I finished up a little pine cone sketch today and speculated about the relationship between pines and insects who call them host plants. I chose to draw this particular cone because the only seeds remaining in it have been "aborted"- these seeds are either small and underdeveloped or have a hole in them, indicating an insect bored out of then. Do the ponderosa pines detect the infestation of seeds within developing cones and halt the flow of nutrients to those individual seeds? Oak trees are known to do this: they drop acorns that the acorn weevils (Conotrachelus) lay eggs in, allowing the tree to focus resources on the remaining fruits. My guess is that this is a constant battle between the plants and the bugs. The bugs want the seeds they're inside of to grow for as long as possible, while the plant wants to detect and get rid of any infested seeds as soon as possible. An interesting contest! #BEBjournal15s #BEBjournal #Pinaceae #Pines #Pine #PinusPonderosa #pinecone #arizona #botanize #botany #plants #nature #sketching #naturejournal #sketchjournal #botanicalillustration #scientificillustration #naturalhistoryillustration #ecology #Science #oaks #oaktrees #insects (at Flagstaff, Arizona)