This was a big gap in our understanding of plant chatter: we knew how plants send messages, but not how they receive them.
molecular biologists at Saitama University in Japan, and colleagues rigged up a pump to transfer compounds emitted by injured and insect-riddled plants onto their undamaged neighbors, and a fluorescence microscope to watch what happened.
As you can see in the video above, the undamaged plants received the messages of their injured neighbors loud and clear, responding with bursts of calcium signaling that rippled across their outstretched leaves.
What’s more, pre-treating plants with a phytohormone that shuts stomata significantly reduced calcium signaling, suggesting stomata act as the ‘nostrils’ of the plant.
Scientists Film Plant ‘Talking’ to Its Neighbor
The public dismisses plants as unimportant but this is a reminder that they are incredibly sophisticated. They need to be since they can’t move and have to deal with everything that comes their way.