Wow: plants scream when they’re stressed
Do you have plants that could really use a little more attention? Plants that are looking rather limp, with dry potting soil and withered leaves? Relieve them of their suffering immediately: chances are they’re screaming in pain. Yes, really. This is shown by recent research from, among others, the University of Israel.
Okay, they don’t scream the way we do. But they do produce sounds when they’re stressed. For example, when they need water or when we cut off part of their stems. Bizarre, right?
Stressed vs. unstressed plants
How did researchers discover this? They recorded the ‘behavior’ of tomato and tobacco plants under different conditions. Some plants were completely stress-free. Healthy and blooming beautifully. Other plants were stressed. Some of the stressed plants were completely dried out, while others were plants whose stems had been cut off. The researchers studied their behavior in two environments: a 100% soundproof acoustic chamber and a normal greenhouse environment. A machine, which they had trained an algorithm to use to detect different sounds, then recorded the sounds produced by the plants. What did they find? Unstressed plants were completely silent, while stressed plants made sounds.
Clicks and pops
These are clicking and popping sounds. On average, the stressed plants made about 40 sounds per hour. Remarkably, the more stress the plant experiences, the more sounds it produces. So as the plant becomes increasingly dehydrated, it gets louder and louder. The machine could also distinguish differences between the sounds of different plants. The researchers studied not only tomato and tobacco plants, but also wheat, corn, grapevines and cacti.
Plant communication
Can people hear these sounds? No. The sounds are so high-pitched that they lie outside the range of human hearing. Even when it is completely quiet, people cannot hear them. But some other living organisms can detect plants’ screams. And that creates a kind of communication between plants and animals after all. If an animal wants to eat a plant and hears its screams, it may change its mind. Handy!
Why do they do this?
Researchers have not yet fully figured out why plants make these sounds. They do know that dehydrated plants produce air bubbles in their stems. These air bubbles expand and burst. The same thing happens when you crack your knuckles. But whether producing these sounds is simply something that happens or whether there is more to it remains a question. Researchers may explore this further in the future.
Relieve your plant of its suffering
As pitiful as it is, we cannot respond to our dear plants’ distress call. We cannot hear it, after all. Fortunately, there are other signals plants can give to show that they are in trouble. For example, they change color and shape and release aromas. Anyone who pays attention to these signs can relieve a plant of its suffering in time.
Also read:
- Never again a dead herb plant
- This is why virtually no one eats tomato plant leaves
- Professor investigates: this is how (un)healthy plant-based eating is
Source: Science Alert
