are they talking stressed plants? Are they complaining? One thing is clear: Plants affected by lack of water, injury or virus emit ultrasonic sounds. AND neighboring plants, insects and other animals such as dogs and cats can sense and react well. before these sounds is the surprising discovery of a team of scientists from Tel Aviv University.
No wonder: they’ve confirmed it with tomato plants, tobacco, wheat, corn, vines, cacti, and nettles. The finding could change the way we view the plant kingdom, hitherto considered silent. open roads for better understand plants and their interactions with the environment. Also a significant impact on agriculture.
Scientifically proven already stressed plants show altered phenotypes, including changes in colour, odor and shape. (visual, chemical and tactile signals). But the sounds they make have hardly been studied.
“Stressed plants make sounds that can be remotely recorded and classified.“, highlight the authors of the study, who recorded the ultrasonic sounds emitted by tomato and tobacco plants in an acoustic chamber and in a greenhouse while monitoring their physiological parameters.
“We have developed machine learning models that can describe the state of plants, including levels of dehydration and lesion, based solely on the sounds emitted. These informative sounds can also be perceived by other organisms.” takes the work.
Stressed plants make more noise than unstressed plants. But are the messages intended to communicate with other organisms? Not open. may be related to them cavitationA process in which air bubbles form in the xylem that expand and collapse, causing vibrations.
High-pitched sounds for humans
How does a stressed plant sound? Most of the sounds recorded by Israeli scientists were some kind of popping or clicking sounds, such as the bursting of plastic bubbles (alveolar film). They are sounds comparable to normal human speech.
These clicks, which are 30 to 50 in stressed plants, are between 40,000 Hz and 60,000 hertz (Hz), i.e. too high for the human ear (detects only up to 20,000 Hz), but not for many animals, for example dogs And catscapable of hearing up to 45,000 Hz and 64,000 Hz, respectively.
The scientists used three controls for each plant type: recording the sounds of the same plant before treatment, recording the sounds of a neighboring untreated plant of the same species, and recording the sounds of an earthed but unplanted pot.
They confirmed Plants stressed from both drought and cuts and injuries make much more noise than plants that don’t have any problems.and there is no sound in pots without plants.
Sounds are detected up to five meters awayboth in acoustic rooms and greenhouses and view information about the physiological state of the emitter. So the scientists were able to distinguish between drought-stressed, cut and controlled plants based solely on the sounds emitted.
They were able to distinguish with great precision the sounds emitted under two different stress conditions: dry and cut plants. And the hourly sound emission model, plant transpiration ratedaily sound volume increases in the first days of thirst and decreases as the plant dries.
Vital for agriculture
“These results demonstrate the potential in the study. plant bioacousticsthey recommend it Acoustic Emissions from Plants May Play an Important Role in Ecology and Evolutionand could have direct implications for monitoring plants in agriculture,” the authors write.
“Can plants respond harmoniously to the sounds of neighbors injured or stressed by drought?” Ask the researchers who see this as very possible and are already doing research to shed light on the mystery.
The scientists point to other areas for future research: “Our results were obtained in a limited number of plant species and need to be tested in additional plant species from different families. We expect many plants to make sounds.“, they point.
They also note that their observations focused on sound propagation in plants exposed to drought, cutting, or TMV (tobacco mosaic virus) infection, and it would be appropriate to examine sounds emitted from plants affected by “different pathogens, cold.” , attack from herbivores, ultraviolet radiation and other life stages of plant species such as flowering.
Adding that the results were obtained in a controlled acoustic environment (an acoustic room) or a semi-natural environment, the authors say, “Our understanding of the mechanism of sound emission is still at a fundamental level. This is an area for future research.” (a greenhouse). ).
The next step should be the recording and analysis of plant sounds in the field.. Of course, they acknowledge that with a wider range of background noise, such research will present “additional challenges.”
“Sound emissions from plants can offer a way to monitor crop water and possibly disease states, which are vital issues in agriculture.‘, they conclude.
Reference report: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)00262-3
……
Contact address of the environment department: [email protected]