Camphor from juvenile white spruce as an antifeedant for snowshoe hares.

One theory in plant antiherbivore defense predicts that slow growing late succession plants like white spruce (Picea glauca) make large investments in antiherbivore defenses. Juvenile stages of white spruce in the Yukon, Canada, are rarely browsed by snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), an abundant herbivore, but mature spruce is a highly preferred food. The hexane-soluble fractions of the methanol extracts from juvenile and mature white spruce contain camphor and bomyl acetate. There is four times as much camphor in juvenile spruce as in mature spruce from GC analysis. Plant extracts were added to rabbit chow. Pairs of extracts were offered to hares in choice tests. These tests demonstrated that camphor in the juvenile spruce extracts deterred feeding. Bornyl acetate did not have a clear antifeeding effect.