The plants, apparently reserved and silent, talk to each other. And they warn each other against common enemies using special messengers: mushrooms. This was discovered by a study conducted by Dr David Johnson of the University of Aberdeen, who discovered how plants communicate with each other through the soil.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Le plants, apparently reserved and silent, they talk to each other. And they warn each other against common enemies using special messengers: i mushrooms. This was discovered by a study conducted by Dr David Johnson of the University of Aberdeen, according to which plants communicate with each other through the soil.
Research has shown that when they get infected with some illnesses, they warn other nearby plants to activate genes to ward off lurking disease. The key to this communication is a mushroom lying in the ground and acting as a messenger.
A kind of underground 'internet' connection, if we want to try to imagine it. The idea that plants have developed such a system seems to have come out of a science fiction movie like Avatar but it's really real.
The scientist was following the results of one research carried out in China in 2010, during which a plant of tomato had been infected with ruggine, when he noticed that neighboring plants had simultaneously started activating genes that help ward off infection, even though all airflow between the plants had been cut off. Researchers in that study knew that the soil fungi referred to ife are symbiotic with tomatoes (providing them with minerals in exchange for food) formed a sort of network that connected one plant to another. They hypothesized that the danger signaling molecules passed through this fungal network.
Dr. Johnson through researching him had discovered that the broad bean plants, when attacked by aphids, they respond with volatile chemicals that irritate pests and attract aphid-hunting wasps. He did not know, however, how the message could spread directly from plant to plant. So she decided to find out.
By creating the right conditions, he tried to 'make some plants speak' through the soil beans, first let it grow for four months to interact with the fungi present in the soil.
To show that the plants were indeed communicating through the soil, the research team recreated a series of "Mesocosmi" formed by five bean stalks. The latter are often attacked by aphids.
They thus discovered that the plants knew exactly what to say and to whom, in a sort of supportive network in which we save each other's lives.
Francesca Mancuso
Photo: Okefenokee
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