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Science 2 December 1983:
Vol. 222. no. 4627, pp. 1023 - 1025
DOI: 10.1126/science.222.4627.1023
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Articles

Pinosylvin Methyl Ether Deters Snowshoe Hare Feeding on Green Alder

JOHN P. BRYANT 1, GREGORY D. WIELAND 1, PAUL B. REICHARDT 2, VINCE E. LEWIS 2, and MICHAEL C. MCCARTHY 2

1 Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks 99701
2 Department of Chemistry, University of Alaska

Pinosylvin methyl ether (PME), a toxic phenol, is a potent deterrent to showshoe hare feeding on green alder. Concentrations of PME found in green alder parts can account for the low palatability of winter-dormant foliar buds and staminate catkins but cannot affect internode palatability. The lack of a PME-related defense system in internodes suggests that green alder has at least a two-level defense system: defense of growth stages and defense of parts within growth stages.

Submitted on December 30, 1982
Revised on April 11, 1983

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)