Loyal to the roots

From small lavender flowers to rampant beef stalks, there is nothing outstanding about the Lake Big-shale coast weed that gives the idea that this may be a wonder in the plant world.

But scientists have found evidence that seaweed can do things that no other plant can afford.

According to researchers' reports, seaweed must know which plants are related to which trees are still present. It not only recognizes relatives but also offers special privileges to relatives.

When it finds a 'unfamiliar' tree growing on the same land as it, it will aggressively surround the roots that absorb nutrients. But if he knew there were relatives around, he politely restrained himself.

The results are surprising, even shocking because most animals cannot be detected with the ability to identify relatives even though this ability has many great advantages.

If an individual recognizes its relatives, it can help members of their extended family as well as an evolutionary action because their members share a number of genetic genes. transmission. Similarly, it will have unpleasant behaviors for those who are unfamiliar, often expressed in competition with claws or sharp thorns.

The red silk is crawling to the tomato plant.(Photo: Brian McClatchy / De Moraes and Mescher Labs)

Evolutionary plant ecologist Susan A. Dudley at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) said: 'I was surprised at what we found'. She conducted research with graduate student Amanda L. File. Dr. Dudley added: 'Plants also have a secret social life'.

When studying seaweed, published in the August issue of Biology Letters, Dr. Dudley and colleagues found evidence of three other plant species. ability to identify relatives.

The above studies are part of the picture that is improving on the life of tree species that have long been thought to be immobile and passive. In fact, they can sense everything about other trees around them and use the information gained to interact with each other.

Photos of dodder after attacking tomato plants.(Photo: Justin Runyon / De Moraes and Mescher Labs)

The social life of plants is still a mystery for a long time. Based on studies of certain plants such as sage, strawberries and hawthorn, the way plants perceive the environment is quite different from the way animals are.

For example, some plants can sense neighboring plants that have the potential to compete through changes that are hard to see in the light. Because plants absorb and reflect specific sunlight wavelengths, it creates a sign that other plants acquire.

Scientists also found that plants use a number of methods to obtain information about other plants from the chemicals they release into the soil and air. The parasite, such as the pink string, was found to be particularly interested in identifying such chemicals.

Pink silk cannot grow on its own or produce sugar for itself thanks to photosynthesis while all other plants can do this process. As a result, the researchers found that after sprouting, it needs to cling to and multiply on another plant to extract the nutrients it needs to survive.

But even when the scientists studying red string were surprised by the speed and accuracy when the young dodder was identified and hunted. With time-measuring films, they can observe the red silk sprouts moving in a circular way from which to recognize the chemical patterns in the air released by nearby trees. This action is a bit like a sniffing dog around the party.

Then, based on the hint from the smell without touching the object, the red silk immediately grew in the direction of the victim's choice. It confidently identifies and attacks a certain tree among the many options around to have the best growth environment.

Dr. Dr. Consuelo M. De Moraes, a biochemistry ecologist at Pennsylvania State University who works with the red silk research team, said: 'When you watch the movie, you will probably be impressed by the behavior of this plant. . It looks like a small worm crawling to a tree '.

Although the view of plants as organisms with a sense of just appearing, scientists have found traces of the ability to identify and interact among plants for 20 years. But the discoveries that follow make them surprised by the doubt that plants do not have the sensory advantage like eyes, ears, nose, mouth or brain can and do what we do. see

Dr Richard Karban, a plant ecologist at the University of California Davis, said: 'Many examples of plant activity show that the phenomenon can be easily observed'.

For many scientists, the main problem is that although plant activity is quite obvious, it seems to be too complicated for plants as well as too close to animal behavior. Dr. Karban added: 'Perhaps if we get a better understanding of how the phenomenon will occur, we will feel more comfortable accepting the results.'

Californian rosewood senses the chemicals released by its victims into the air.(Photo: William James Warren / Getty Images)

Scientists often have to discern the results of scientific research with the unscientific ideas about the sensory and emotional phenomena in plants.

Described in popular works about the existence of emotions in plants, especially the 1970s book 'The Secret Life of Plants' ( Dr. The Secret Life of Plants'), Ph.D. Dudley thinks that plants are not 'sensitive, obnoxious teenagers when someone is hurt, not a fan of classical music but hates rock music'.

Even top researchers do not always agree with the clear opinions of science or views that go a bit too far.

Recent controversies revolve around a long-standing question: What capabilities and attributes have scientists long considered a trait that only belongs to animals, such as feeling, learning or memory? Can it be properly converted to plants?

Members of the Plant Biological Neurology Association - a newly formed group that owns the site with a focus on the sensation of plants - are also members of today's mainstream science.

Sea cabbage flowers identify relatives.(Photo: Animals Animals / Earth Scenes)

The name of the association was enough to annoy many biologists. Neurobiology is the science that studies the nervous system - including nerves, synapses and brains - which are known only to exist in animals. But for most scientists, the view of plant neuroscience is just a combination of impossible, misleading and offensive things.

36 authors from universities, including Yale University and Oxford University, were very annoyed. They published an article last year titled 'Plant Neurobiology: No Brain, No Gain?' (Translated as "Plant neurology: no brain, no gain?" ) in Trends in Plant Science, they criticized the plant neurobiology association for making such capabilities as neurons. Plant synapses, and recommend association researchers should abandon 'superficial reasoning as well as suspicious extrapolation'.

Critics point out that some 100 years ago, some scientists also claimed that plant physiology did not exist. Today, that view is clearly outdated, which can cause many industry scientists to chuckle.

For 'superficial inferences' , botanists create a new wave of clear awareness that plants do not have an exact copy of the nervous system of animals.

The 5 authors justified the new group, saying: 'No one suggested that we only obviously look for small walnut-shaped brains in the roots of the buds or buds . ' Instead, scientists need to be more open to the possibility that plants may have their own nervous system, which may be similar to the animal's nervous system to transmit information in the body.

Dr. Eric D. Brenner - botanist at the New York Botanical Garden (New York Botanical Garden) and a member of the Plant Biological Neurology Association - said: 'Plants do not send electromagnetic signals from parts to other parts'.

Although electromagnetic signals were discovered 100 years ago, scientists have yet to discover what the plant uses the signal for.

Dr. Brenner said: 'No one poses the question of how information integrates in a tree, partly because we have convinced ourselves that it does not exist. People were not brave enough to ask this question. '

Referring to the possibility of plant neuroscience causing instinctive reactions, Dr. Brenner said that he sometimes feared it would ruin his career. He said: 'I see a lot of people on the sidelines watching the outcome of this controversy.'