Plants are not passive victims of herbivores. When attacked, they can switch on defenses that make them less suitable food for future herbivores. Kessler & Poveda studied whether these responses also change how herbivores move through a plant population, potentially protecting individual plants by spreading damage among many neighbors. The study was conducted on tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima) and larvae of a leaf-feeding beetle (Trirhabda virgata). In both field and laboratory experiments, plants that had been eaten activated strong defenses. Larvae feeding on these plants grew more slowly and tended to leave them. The damaged plants also released airborne chemicals (volatile organic compounds, VOCs), which acted as warning signals: larvae detected them and avoided plants that had already been attacked. Because of this behavior, larvae moved from damaged plants to nearby undamaged ones, especially when plant leaves touched and allowed easy movement between neighbors. Plants growing alone did not benefit from this effect and suffered heavier feeding because larvae had fewer opportunities to move away. Consequently, across the growing season, herbivores were initially clustered but later became more evenly distributed among plants. Our results suggest inducible defenses can function as a “risk-spreading” strategy. Instead of only reducing feeding on a single plant, defenses redistribute herbivores across the population so each plant experiences less damage. This mechanism depends on herbivore mobility and plant connectivity, highlighting how plant communication and spatial arrangement shape plant–herbivore interactions and community dynamics.