LONDON: Plants swaying in breeze may actually be conversing with each other as they not only respond to sound but also communicate actively by 'clicking' noises, a new research has claimed.
Scientists at Bristol University used powerful loudspeakers to listen to corn saplings, and heard clicking sounds coming from their roots. It is yet more evidence that while they appear to be passively swaying in breeze, plants are in fact actively communicating with each other in a constant chatter.
When they suspended their roots in water and played a continuous noise at a similar frequency to the clicks, they found the plants grew towards it. Plants are known to grow towards light, and research earlier this year from Exeter University found cabbage plants emitted a volatile gas to warn others of danger such as caterpillars or garden shears.
But the researchers say this is the first solid evidence they have their own language of noises, inaudible to human ears, the Daily Mail reported. Their study is published in the journal Trends in Plant Science.
Daniel Robert, a biology professor at Bristol, said: "These noisy little clicks have the potential to constitute a channel of communication between the roots."
Scientists at Bristol University used powerful loudspeakers to listen to corn saplings, and heard clicking sounds coming from their roots. It is yet more evidence that while they appear to be passively swaying in breeze, plants are in fact actively communicating with each other in a constant chatter.
When they suspended their roots in water and played a continuous noise at a similar frequency to the clicks, they found the plants grew towards it. Plants are known to grow towards light, and research earlier this year from Exeter University found cabbage plants emitted a volatile gas to warn others of danger such as caterpillars or garden shears.
But the researchers say this is the first solid evidence they have their own language of noises, inaudible to human ears, the Daily Mail reported. Their study is published in the journal Trends in Plant Science.
Daniel Robert, a biology professor at Bristol, said: "These noisy little clicks have the potential to constitute a channel of communication between the roots."
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