血縁選択説
Kin selection has also been observed in plant responses to herbivory. In an experiment done by Richard Karban et al, leaves of potted "Artemisia tridentata" (sagebrushes) were clipped with scissors to simulate herbivory. The gaseous volatiles emitted by the clipped leaves were captured in a plastic bag. When these volatiles were transferred to leaves of a closely related sagebrush, the recipient experienced lower levels of herbivory than those that had been exposed to volatiles released by non-kin plants. Sagebrushes do not uniformly emit the same volatiles in response to herbivory: the chemical ratios and composition of emitted volatiles vary from one sagebrush to another. Closely related sagebrushes emit similar volatiles, and the similarities decrease as relatedness decreases. This suggests that the composition of volatile gasses plays a role in kin selection among plants. Volatiles from a distantly related plant are less likely to induce a protective response against herbivory in a neighboring plant, than volatiles from a closely related plant. This fosters kin selection, as the volatiles emitted by a plant will activate the herbivorous defense response in related plants only, thus increasing their chance of survival and reproduction.