Plants that grow under heavily polluted conditions and particularly
those plants which are metal accumulators or hyperaccumulators
may acquire resistance to some natural enemies (Boyd,
2010). Butler and Trumble (2008), based on observations of 203
insect herbivores, indicated over 75% of an insect’s fitness and their
population dynamics were adversely affected by factors associated
with the host plant, which primarily included the negative effects
of heavy metals accumulated in plant tissues. The results in the
single-element system tub trial suggests that the larvae of Neochetina
weevils were more sensitive to Zn and Hg metal accumulation
in the plant tissue than the adult weevils, whereas Cu and As metals
reduced both adult and larval feeding. Görür (2007) found over
two-fold larval mortality of the Cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae
L. feeding on Cu contaminated plants at a concentration of
3.14 mg/L compared to the adults. Mogren and Trumble (2010)
also showed that the feeding damage of N. bruchi decreased significantly
on plants with 2.32 mg Zn/kg d. wt. These results are in