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the sensory biology of plants (mander.xyz)

submitted 7 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world 29 points 7 months ago

The mycorrhizal networks are a real phenomenon, and as recently as 2016 were confirmed to share resources between trees.

Researchers exposed certain trees to a specific carbon isotope and found their unfed neighbors were processing that specific isotope despite not being exposed.

We've also found that many plants generate interacting electrical fields that help promote pollination and may indicate to pollinators which plants are ready to be harvested.

We've also found, by sequencing fungal DNA, that mother trees do have a resource sharing preference for their direct offspring.

We don't have hard evidence for direct communication between trees, in the sense that we don't speak tree. We do have hard evidence that they share resources, have preferences, express pain signals externally and other plants react, and can indicate information to other species.

[-] Zerush@lemmy.ml 8 points 7 months ago

A few years ago, a group of giraffes were placed in a field surrounded by enough acacia trees to ensure their food, but after a short time the giraffes began to get sick. The cause is the acacias. These, when the giraffe eats its shoots, releases a toxic substance to the other shoots that makes them toxic and also sends signals to the surrounding acacias that also make them toxic. The giraffes, therefore, in freedom, after eating from an acacia, move to others of several km to continue in these, but this in an enclosure was not possible.