Electric signals, here is the secret weapon used by the flowers to attract the insects that will provide for their pollination. Until now it was believed that insects were attracted to flowers through visual channels, thanks to the colors of their corollas, and olfactory ones, due to the scent emanating from the flowers themselves.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Electrical signals, here is the secret weapon used by fiori per attract insects who will provide for them pollination. Until now it was believed that insects were attracted to flowers only through visual channels, thanks to the colors of their corollas, and olfactory ones, due to the scent emanating from the flowers themselves.
Uno study conducted at the University of Bristol, and led by Dr. Daniel Roberts, was able to identify the hitherto unknown presence of electrical signals emitted by flowers in order to attract insects. As for insects, the authors of the study, which was published in the pages of the journal Science, they focused on the behavior of bumblebees.
To attract these insects would therefore not only be colors, shapes and scents of flowers, but also electrical signals, real ones electricity fields, which form variations in their structure and arrangement, which can be detected by insects.
It has been observed that the electric fields of flowers can change very quickly, so that one can be created immediate communication with pollinating insects. It was already known to scientists that plants and flowers produced electric fields around themselves, but until now considered rather weak and whose function was completely unknown.
The researchers observed the interaction between petunia flowers and insects, such as bees and bumblebees, noting how the electric fields of the flowers changed with the approach of the insects, also charged with electricity, as they were engaged in flapping their wings. After the insect approaches, the electric charge of the flower undergoes a variation, which remains for a few minutes.
It has been speculated that this is done in such a way as to make it clear to other insects that this flower has already been pollinated previously, making the approach less interesting for them. It still remains to be understood for science through which organs the insects are able to perceive the presence of the electric fields emanating from the flowers. Nature, however, once again shows us its own perfect operation: insects do not approach the flowers randomly, but aim directly at the corollas that have not yet received pollination, deciphering their electrical signals.
Marta Albè
