Very committed and slightly crazy gardeners like to humanize their plants. Could there be some grain of truth in our desire to think plants are like people? Can plants talk to each other? Do plants communicate with us?
These questions and more have been studied, and the verdicts are in…. sort of.
Can Plants Really Communicate?
Plants have truly amazing adaptability and survival techniques. Many can survive long periods in near darkness, others can fend off competing plants with toxic hormones, and still, others can even move themselves. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that plants can communicate. Just what do plants use to communicate?
Many gardeners have been caught red-faced as they sing or chatter to their houseplants. Such talk is said to be good for growth and overall health. What if we discovered that plants really do talk to each other though? Instead of inert, immobile life, this possibility makes us look at plants in a whole new way.
If plants do communicate, what are they trying to say? What they say and how they say it is the subject of many new studies and not just fantasy anymore. Such studies prove kinship, claustrophobia, turf wars, and other human interactions.
What Do Plants Use to Communicate?
Certain organic compounds and even their roots help plants communicate with each other. Plant auxins and other hormones influence growth and other processes.
Juglone is a classic example of a toxic hormone emitted from black walnut trees that has the ability to kill other plants. It is the walnut tree’s way of saying, "don't crowd me." Plants in crowded situations often emit chemicals or experience "canopy shyness," where they grow away from a species whose leaves are touching them.
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Emitting a chemical that alters another plant's growth seems sci-fi, but it really happens in some situations. Encouraging other plants to protect themselves is another way that plants can communicate. Sagebrush plants, for example, emit camphor when their leaves are damaged, which is an inheritable trait and causes another sagebrush to do the same. Such traits indicate kinship among each species.
Can Plants Talk to Each Other?
Scientists have found plants talking with their roots. They literally share information through underground fungi networks. In such networks, they can communicate various conditions and send nutrients to a needy tree. These connected networks can even warn about an insect swarm. Pretty cool, huh?
Nearby trees that receive the warning then emit insect-repelling chemicals. Recent studies indicate that plants transmit information through electrical pulses. There is a long way to go in plant communication studies, but the field has gone from tinfoil hat to bonafide reality.
FAQs
By means of electrical signals they communicate internally, and, by secreting chemicals, they communicate externally with other roots of the same plant or with those of other plants. Plant roots can distinguish friend from foe.
What do plants use to communicate with each other? ›
Plants communicate through a host of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can be separated into four broad categories, each the product of distinct chemical pathways: fatty acid derivatives, phenylpropanoids/benzenoids, amino acid derivatives, and terpenoids.
How do plants talk to us? ›
Plants obviously don't have ears and eyes, but past research shows they communicate with their surroundings by emitting chemicals known as volatile organic compounds, which we can smell. But just as people can speak so many words, plants can produce an array of these compounds for different purposes.
How do plant cells talk to each other? ›
Open annotations (there are currently 0 annotations on this page). Plant cells communicate with each other via narrow channels embedded across adjacent cell walls. These channels, called plasmodesmata, allow molecules to pass between cells, thereby enabling plants to grow normally and develop tissues and organs.
How do plants communicate with other plants research? ›
Plants emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as a means to warn other plants of impending danger. Nearby plants exposed to the induced VOCs prepare their own defense weapons in response.
Can plants feel and communicate? ›
Plants can interpret sound, respond to touch and recognize their own kin. They can even communicate with one another about impending threats, summoning the help of predatory killers when they are being attacked.
Do plants communicate with sound? ›
Researchers at Tel Aviv University recorded and analyzed sounds emitted by plants and discovered that they give off clicking sounds, emanating at a volume similar to human speech, but too high for our ears to pick it up.
What type of signaling do plants use? ›
Plants use many different chemicals to send signals. Auxins, cytokinins, abscisic acid, gibberellic acid, and ethylene are “classical” phytohormones; however, a number of very recently discovered phytohormones include brassinolide (3); systemin, a peptide hormone; methyl jasmonate; and salicyclic acid.
How do cells communicate with each other? ›
Cells typically communicate using chemical signals. These chemical signals, which are proteins or other molecules produced by a sending cell, are often secreted from the cell and released into the extracellular space. There, they can float – like messages in a bottle – over to neighboring cells.
How are plant cells connected and communicated with each other via? ›
Plant cells are connected and communicate with each other via plasmodesmata. When protein receptors on the surface of the plasma membrane of an animal cell bind to a substance in the extracellular matrix, a chain of reactions begins that changes activities taking place within the cell.
Although plants do not sleep in the same way that humans do, they do have more and less active times and they have circadian rhythms—internal clocks that tell them when it is night and when it is day. And like many people, plants are less active at night. When the Sun comes up, however, they awake to the day.
Are plants sentient beings? ›
Abstract. Recent advances in plant biology have revealed that plants and their survival depend on plant-specific cognition and sentience. In fact, sessile plants need to monitor more signals from their environment than animals that might be able to run, fly, and hide from stressful environmental threats.
Can plants grow better by talking to them? ›
While the studies suggest that sound may spur plants to faster growth, there is no definitive evidence that a gift of gab will turn you into a green thumb. Ideal conditions for growth have more to do with temperature than talk. But if you want to whisper sweet nothings to your begonias, well, nobody's stopping you.
Do plants send electrical signals? ›
Yes, plants have electrical signals that are generated in response to touch and stress factors, such as wounds caused by herbivores and attacks on their roots. As opposed to animals, who can move out of the way, plants must cope with stress factors where they grow.
What strategies do plants use to communicate between themselves? ›
Plants interact with their environment in many ways. They can emit and receive volatile organic compounds (VOC) and sound. They can reflect specific wavelengths of light and detect these light signals, re- flected by other plants. They can also feel when they are touched and distinguish different types of touch.
How does the plant communicate the information of touch? ›
When the plant is touched, electrical signals are flashed by the cells. The cells in the `pulvinus' respond to this signal by flushing out potassium and water. With the massive loss of water, the pulvinus bends over and the leaflets fold.
