Plants “panic” when it rains
phys.org
Plants “panic” when it rains
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Re: Plants “panic” when it rains
#2If you liked this one, you might also enjoy reading about the mycorrhizal networks some plants can use to communicate between each other: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141111-plants-have-a-hidden...
Re: Plants “panic” when it rains
#3Link to the research:
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/10/25/1911758116
>“As to why plants would need to panic when it rains, strange as it sounds, rain is actually the leading cause of disease spreading between plants,” said University of Western Australia’s Professor Harvey Millar, co-author of the study.
“When a raindrop splashes across a leaf, tiny droplets of water ricochet in all directions. These droplets can contain bacteria, viruses, or fungal spores.”
“The sick leaves can act as a catapult and in turn spread smaller droplets with pathogens to plants several feet away. It is possible that the healthy plants close by want to protect themselves,
Re: Plants “panic” when it rains
#4What is described in the article doesn't fit the definition of panic.
I'm torn because maybe I wouldn't have read the article without the needless anthropomorphization. Plants are awesome and interesting to me because they're so planty and not animaly.
Re: Plants “panic” when it rains
#5[deleted]
Re: Plants “panic” when it rains
#6What is described in the article doesn't fit the definition of panic. I'm torn because maybe I wouldn't have read the article without the needless anthropomorphization. Plants are awesome and interesting to me because they're so planty and not animaly.
A defense mechanism that is triggered by a hormone? Doesn't seem terribly far off
Re: Plants “panic” when it rains
#7If you liked this one, you might also enjoy reading about the mycorrhizal networks some plants can use to communicate between each other: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141111-plants-have-a-hidden...
my favorite radiolab episode is about this: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/from-...
Re: Plants “panic” when it rains
#8What is described in the article doesn't fit the definition of panic. I'm torn because maybe I wouldn't have read the article without the needless anthropomorphization. Plants are awesome and interesting to me because they're so planty and not animaly.
A defense mechanism that is triggered by a hormone? Doesn't seem terribly far off
He makes an interesting point. Some plants have a response to rain triggered by a hormone. To ascribe the term panic to it though might possibly be mischaracterizing the response because of the tendency to anthropomorphize.
Re: Plants “panic” when it rains
#9Link to the research: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/10/25/1911758116 >“As to why plants would need to panic when it rains, strange as it sounds, rain is actually the leading cause of disease spreading between plants,” said University of Western Australia’s Professor Harvey Millar, co-author of the study. “When a raindrop splashes across a leaf, tiny droplets of water ricochet in all directions. These drople…
[deleted]
Re: Plants “panic” when it rains
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
A defense mechanism that is triggered by a hormone? Doesn't seem terribly far off
He makes an interesting point. Some plants have a response to rain triggered by a hormone. To ascribe the term panic to it though might possibly be mischaracterizing the response because of the tendency to anthropomorphize.
On the other hand, we have many primal and ancient behaviors that can be contextualized on evolutionary timescales so that it can be reasonably said that, yea, a lot of our behaviors have common heritage with even plants.