DISCOVERING FASCINATING PLANT BEHAVIORS

Plants are clever. They are strategic. They are opportunistic. They are social. And they remember. And if this is conjuring images from The Little Shop of Horrors, set them aside, and instead consider new scientific research findings that indicate beauty and sophistication in the higher functionality of plants.

The cognitive capacities of plant life are proving to be fascinating, according to new studies. They have developed for many of the same reasons they have in animals -- and in humans.

It’s all about optimizing health and survival. It’s about competing for resources. It’s about interacting with the environment. It’s about self-protection. It’s about procreation. And some plant strategies are surprisingly similar to those of animals.

Many plants can sense and integrate information from a spectrum of different environmental variables. And they adjust.

Some plants have demonstrated that they have memories, even though they have no brains or nervous systems. Some plants communicate with each other, while others communicate with other species. Some mount complex defense mechanisms.

The dainty Cornish mallow (Lavatera cretica), a pink-petaled wildflower, makes sure it gets the most out of the sun, its key source of energy. Not only does it track sunlight throughout the day, but it actually remembers where and when the sun has risen the day before, so just before the dawn, it uses motor tissue at the base of its stalks to turn its broad green leaves towards the anticipated direction of the new day’s sunrise.

Scientists found that when they trick these plants by moving the location of their light source, they reposition themselves accordingly, learning and remembering the new orientation.

The pale jewelweed (Impatiens pallida), can recognize relatives! It cooperates so that its kin has good access to light and food. But, when different species infiltrate their territories, this clever plant increases resource allocation to its leaves and roots, hogging sunlight and soil nutrients.

Thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), can detect the vibrations caused by hungry caterpillars and release specialized chemicals to repel them.

Mushrooms and other fungi communicate and cooperate via underground mycorrhizal networks that link up the root systems of many individuals.

It’s common knowledge that plants “remember” seasons. They know when to go dormant, when to feed, when to bud, when to flower, when to bear fruit, and when to set seed. It’s known as epigenetic memory, vs cognitive memory -- as instructions are passed down via DNA, from one generation to the next.

Vernalisation, for example, is a process in which some plants must be exposed winter’s chilly temperatures in order for them to flower in the spring. Order and timing are important. If they flower too early or too late, the miss the best pollinators and best weather conditions.

Behavioural ecologist Monica Gagliano, a researcher at the University of Western Australia, who studies plants tested the memory capacities of a Mimosa pudica, a creeping annual also known as the “sensitive plant.” Its leaves snap shut defensively in response to perceived threats.

Gagliano and her team experimented by dropping the plant from an unusual height. The plants learned that this dropping was not a threat, so they did not snap their leaves shut.

In another study, Gagliano her team experimented with the garden pea plant (Pisum sativum), and were able to show that they learned a conditioned response to changes in light and air movement.

All of these findings, which show that plant life shares many of the same behavioural strategies and capacities for learning and memory as we do have exciting implications. The more we scientific inquiry teaches us about the plant world, it seems, the more we learn about the human world.

Read more about Beautiful Science in Beautiful Space Travels Without Leaving the Ground!, 90% of Your Body Isn’t You!, The Beauty of Bio-Paint and The Plant Messiah Can Help Save Us All.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Arts/Design, and Place/Time, Daily Fix posts.

IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Danny Barron. “A Purple Explosion! Mimosa pudica.
2. Image: by Claire Forrest. “Cretan Mallow (Small Tree Mallow).” Lavatera Cretica.
3. Image: by jpc.raleigh. “Pale Jewelweed. Mt. Mitchell.” Impatiens pallida.
4. Image: by Steffen Geyer. “Acker-Schmalwand (Arabidopsis thaliana).”
5. Image: by Charles de Mille-Isles. “Craterellus lutescens/aurora?”
6. Image: by Arnaldo Gutiérrez González. “Lavatera cretica con inquilino.”
7. Image: by mazuu. “Mimosa pudica.”
8. Image: by Tuluz Aditya Nugraha. “Pisum sativum.”
9. Image: by Carol Von Canon. “Little Girl In A Field Of Wildflowers.”
10. Image: by EvaldoResende. “Mimosa pudica.”
11. Image: by Lizzie Erwood. “Caterpillar.”
12. Image: by Gary Yankech. “Cecropia Moth Caterpillar.”
13. Image: by Dan Mullen. “Orange Jewelweed, Spotted Touch-me-not.” Impatiens capensis.