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A group of Japanese scientists has successfully filmed plants communicating and warning others about potential dangers in real-time, making a breakthrough in an observation first documented in the early 1980s.
To explore plant communication, the scientists conducted experiments using caterpillars on leaves from tomato plants and Arabidopsis thaliana, a common weed. The engineered Arabidopsis plant featured a biosensor that fluoresced green upon detecting an influx of calcium ions. The researchers concentrated compounds in a plastic bottle, pumping them onto the recipient plant to analyse their impact.
We don’t see plants prowling in the wild, hunting prey, and making sounds, so it’s easy to assume they don’t communicate with each other. However, this experiment proves that plants can convey messages to each other for survival. As a result, it becomes an eye-opener that expands our understanding of the Earth’s green denizens.
Plant communication was first observed in a study in 1983, igniting discussions in the scientific community since.
“We have finally unveiled the intricate story of when, where and how plants respond to airborne ‘warning messages’ from their threatened neighbors,” molecular biologist Masatsugu Toyota from Japan’s Saitama University said of their recent study. “This ethereal communication network, hidden from our view, plays a pivotal role in safeguarding neighboring plants from imminent threats in a timely manner.”