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Plant Emotions / Consciousness / Communication

Here's a newly released preview of a study not yet subjected to peer review. Its focus on possible plant signals in response to environmental stress or physical damage is similar to that of the studies cited above. However, this study focuses on plant signals emitted in the form of sounds - specifically ultrasonic sounds.
Plants 'Scream' in the Face of Stress

A new study suggests that plants that are stressed by drought or physical damage may emit ultrasonic squeals.

In times of intense stress, people sometimes let out their angst with a squeal ⁠— and a new study suggests that plants might do the same.

Unlike human screams, however, plant sounds are too high-frequency for us to hear them, according to the research ... But when researchers from Tel Aviv University in Israel placed microphones near stressed tomato and tobacco plants, the instruments picked up the crops' ultrasonic squeals from about 4 inches (10 centimeters) away. The noises fell within a range of 20 to 100 kilohertz, a volume that could feasibly "be detected by some organisms from up to several meters away," the authors noted. ...

Animals and plants might listen and react to the silent screams of plants, and perhaps humans could too, with the right tools in hand, the authors added. ...

Like animals, plants respond to stress in a variety of ways; studies suggest that plants may release smelly chemical compounds or change their color and shape in response to drought and bites from hungry herbivores. Animals seem to recognize and respond to these botanical stress signals, and even other plants appear to pick up on the airborne scents wafting from their tense neighbors. Some previous research had suggested that plants react to sound, too, but questions remained about whether plants themselves emit detectable noises. ...

The recordings revealed that the different plant species made distinct sounds at varying rates, depending on their stressor. Drought-stressed tomato plants emitted about 35 ultrasonic squeals per hour, on average, while those with cut stems made about 25. Drought-stressed tobacco plants let out about 11 screams per hour, and cut crops made about 15 sounds in the same time. In comparison, the average number of sounds emitted by untouched plants fell below one per hour. ...

Insects, such as moths, may listen for sounds emitted by stressed plants to assess their condition before laying eggs on their leaves, the authors suggested.

Until the scientists observe how and whether moths react to plant noises, this conclusion remains speculative, the authors added — in fact, one outside expert said the idea may be a "little too speculative." ...

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/plants-squeal-when-stressed.html
 
Here are the bibliographic details and the abstract of this latest study. A PDF preview of the full not-yet-peer-reviewed paper can be accessed at the link.

Plants emit informative airborne sounds under stress
I. Khait, O. Lewin-Epstein, R. Sharon, K. Saban, R. Perelman, A. Boonman, Y. Yovel, L. Hadany
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/507590

Abstract

Stressed plants show altered phenotypes, including changes in color, smell, and shape. Yet, the possibility that plants emit airborne sounds when stressed – similarly to many animals – has not been investigated. Here we show, to our knowledge for the first time, that stressed plants emit airborne sounds that can be recorded remotely, both in acoustic chambers and in greenhouses. We recorded ∼65 dBSPL ultrasonic sounds 10 cm from tomato and tobacco plants, implying that these sounds could be detected by some organisms from up to several meters away. We developed machine learning models that were capable of distinguishing between plant sounds and general noises, and identifying the condition of the plants – dry, cut, or intact – based solely on the emitted sounds. Our results suggest that animals, humans, and possibly even other plants, could use sounds emitted by a plant to gain information about the plant’s condition. More investigation on plant bioacoustics in general and on sound emission in plants in particular may open new avenues for understanding plants and their interactions with the environment, and it may also have a significant impact on agriculture.
SOURCE (With access to full preview PDF download):
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/507590v4
 
How do they produce the sounds?

The preview paper doesn't claim to explain the sound generation mechanism that's in play. The authors note that cavitation (creation and popping of internal bubbles) has been demonstrated in plants stressed by drought, but they don't go so far as to claim cavitation generated the ultrasonic sounds they recorded. They leave the sound generation mechanism as an open issue for further research.
 
Newly published research provides additional clues to the manner in which plants can "signal" each other electrically via a connecting medium such as the soil. This doesn't prove plants "chat", but it adds weight to the notion that there is a reliable communication substrate.

Plants Can Secretly Send Underground Electrical Signals. Here's How They Do It

A new study offers a better understanding of the hidden network of underground electrical signals being transmitted from plant to plant – a network that has previously been shown to use the Mycorrhizal fungi in soil as a sort of electrical circuit.

Through a combination of physical experiments and mathematical models based on differential equations, researchers explored how this electrical signalling works ...

The work builds on previous experiments by the same team looking at how this subterranean messaging service functions, using electrical stimulation as a way of testing how signals are carried even when plants aren't in the same soil.

"We can use the math model for simulating the studied processes on a computer instead of running expensive and lengthy experiments," says electrical engineer Yuri Shtessel from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Together with biochemist Alexander Volkov from Oakwood University, Shtessel tested communications between different types of plants in separate pots, both with and without an air gap.

Without an electrical conductor connecting them, the connection was broken. With a silver wire in place, the network was back up and running, which suggests any sort of electrical conductor can be utilised for these plant-to-plant chats.

What's more, the message networks seemed to stay in place and to take a similar form across different types of plant – Aloe vera and cabbage plants were used in the new research, while previous experiments looked at the same kind of signalling between tomato plants. The models suggest different types of plant may be able to communicate in the same way.

"I think that it is definitely possible that signals can propagate through the root network and spread in the common ground or soil from a tomato plant to, let's say, an oak," says Shtessel. "The soil plays the role of a conductor."

While this newest study doesn't reach any firm conclusions about what's being said between plants, or how much of the communication is intentional or not, it does show the potential for messages to be sent about threats to plants, their growth, or plant movement. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/here-s...end-each-other-underground-electrical-signals

==
 
Here are the bibliographic details and abstract of the newly-published research cited above.


Alexander G. Volkov & Yuri B. Shtessel (2020)
Underground electrotonic signal transmission between plants
Communicative & Integrative Biology, 13:1, 54-58.

DOI: 10.1080/19420889.2020.1757207

https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/19420889.2020.1757207
ABSTRACT
Plants can communicate with other plants using wireless pathways above and underground. Some examples of these underground communication pathways are: (1) mycorrhizal networks in the soil; (2) the plants’ rhizosphere; (3) acoustic communication; (4) naturally grafting of roots of the same species; (5) signaling chemicals exchange between roots of plants; and (6) electrical signal transmission between plants through the soil. To avoid the possibility of communication between plants using mechanisms (1)–(5), soils in both pots with plants can be connected by Ag/AgCl or platinum wires. Electrostimulation Aloe vera or cabbage plants induces electrotonic potentials transmission in the electro-stimulated plants as well as in the neighboring plants located in the same or different electrically connected pots regardless if plants are the same or different types. The amplitude and sign of electrotonic potentials in both electrostimulated and neighboring plants depend on the amplitude, rise, and fall of the applied voltage. Electrostimulation serves as an important tool for the evaluation of mechanisms of underground communication in the plant-wide web. The previously developed mathematical model of electrotonic potentials transmission within and between tomato plants, which is supported by the experimental data, is generic enough to be used for simulation study and predicting the intercellular and intracellular communication in the form of electrical signals in the electrical networks within and between a variety of plants.
 
Are they actually communicating in any way via this path? I mean most/all life gives off electromagnetic radiation, but that doesn't mean we communicate this way.

I know there is evidence of some communication networks in forests and such, but iirc that is via the plants emitting chemicals.
 
Are they actually communicating in any way via this path? I mean most/all life gives off electromagnetic radiation, but that doesn't mean we communicate this way. ...

I think the point in this research was to demonstrate a natural means for coherent electrical "transmission" between plants. This only goes so far as to establish that there's a "connectivity" as in a network. Whether such transmissions through that network serve to "communicate" anything is a separate issue (at least from what I gather from this study).
 
so personally I hope plants don't communicate.
I'm quite relaxed about them communicating. Whereas I will be buying one of Mr Musk's "joke" flamethrowers if they develop ambulatory root systems, prehensile tendrils & sabre-toothed leaves.

Thank goodness we can rely upon buckets of salty water as a defence against osmotic turgor stem-stretches and heliotropic growth patterns. Any signs of them developing antagonistic muscle groups or binocular vision, and I swear I'll give that salad such a dressing-down it won't know its chlorophyll from chloroform.
 
Which beggars the question, as a vegetarian, should I feel guilt at tucking into a plateful of delicious haricots verts sautéed with garlic and butter?
 
I remember reading of experiments on tomatoes and potatoes back in the early 70's that indicated awareness and group reaction to pain. IIRC it was along the lines that a tomato was taken 30ft or so away from the rest of the box and when cut into not only did it react but so did the one's back in the box. As a vegetarian of around 30 years this doesn't sit well with my conscience.
 
New research is pointing closer to plant consciousness - though most of the article can't be read by public surfing, maybe somebody with a subscription can give us the jest of it:
https://www.newscientist.com/articl...experiments-that-hint-at-plant-consciousness/

The radical new experiments that hint at plant consciousness​


It’s a wild idea, but recent experiments suggest plants may have the ability to learn and make decisions. Are the claims true and if so, what does it mean for our understanding of consciousness and the human mind?
 
Botanist Stefano Mancuso - An advocate of plant intelligence, the Italian author discusses the complex ways in which plants communicate, whether they are conscious, and what his findings mean for vegans.

Link to an interview by "The Guardian" - in short, he thinks that plants do indeed have a consciousness of sorts:

Botanist Stefano Mancuso: ‘You can anaesthetise all plants. This is extremely fascinating’

King Charles has appointed him as Royal Speaker To Plants.
 
Don't get the bit about fruit reacting to being cut/damaged. The purpose of most fruit in perennials is to be eaten or carried off away from the main plant so the offspring don't compete for space or don't try and grow on soil already depleted. Often the seed benefits from going through the gut of the animal eating the fruit, this also gives the seeds a helping of manure to start them off.

Seeds on the other hand generally don't want to be eaten although there are some that use digestive juices to break down their hard covering - some need fire or repeated bursts of frost and heat to obtain the same result.

The plant itself reacting to damage seems reasonable.
 
Don't get the bit about fruit reacting to being cut/damaged.
While a fruit is attached to the plant, it is part of the plant.
Once detached, it may have some residual mechanism for reacting to damage, carried over from the time when it was part of the plant.

This is really bad news for vegans. What are they going to eat?
 
While a fruit is attached to the plant, it is part of the plant.
Once detached, it may have some residual mechanism for reacting to damage, carried over from the time when it was part of the plant.

This is really bad news for vegans. What are they going to eat?
Well at least they may have the decency not to eat plants alive!
Fungi are out as well as they are closer to animals than they are to plants.
It's water and sunshine I'm afraid.
 
Remember the Breatharians? They didn't last long.

They're still around, on their last gasp though.

Walking his “solar breatharian journey” from Cape Town to Magadan in the far northeastern part of Russia, Elitom El-amin is currently on foot somewhere in the Northern Cape – presumably in the Prieska area.

El-amin, born in 1969 in Pittsburgh in America and raised in Ohio, is internationally renowned as the expert of prolonged fasting.

https://www.news24.com/news24/commu...ng-the-globe-sharing-lifes-teachings-20230214
 

Japanese scientists capture, on video, plants communicating with each other

The research team, led by molecular biologist Masatsugu Toyota from Japan's Saitama University, successfully captured undamaged plants sending defense responses to nearby plants after sensing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are produced by other plants in response to mechanical damages or insect attacks.


[They] attached an air pump to a container filled with leaves and caterpillars and to another chamber containing Arabidopsis thaliana, a common weed from the mustard family. The Arabidopsis was genetically modified to make their cells fluoresce green after detecting calcium ions, which serve as stress messengers. The team then used a fluorescence microscope to monitor the signals the undamaged plants released after receiving VOCs from the damaged leaves.

https://news.yahoo.com/japanese-scientists-capture-plants-communicating-220021424.html

maximus otter
 
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