A research team has explored how the electrical signals that plants appear to emit underground work. With a combination of physical experiments and mathematical models, the analysis showed interesting results. Although, all things considered, it is not yet clear exactly what messages the plants might want to exchange.
The work is based on previous experiments conducted by the same team. Those were also about how this… er… how to call it… underground messaging service works. The researchers used electrical stimulation to test how plants transmit electrical signals, even when they are not in the same soil.
“We can use the mathematical model to simulate and study these processes on a computer. It saves us long and expensive experiments", says electrical engineer Yuri Shtessel from the University of Alabama.
Together with the biochemist Alexander Volkov from Oakwood University, Shtessel tested communications between different types of plants in separate pots. Both with and without air gap. Without an electrical conductor connecting the plants, the connection breaks down. By inserting a silver wire, the network is up and running again, which suggests that any type of electrical conductor can be used for these plant-to-plant “chats.”
Recurring messages
The messages take a similar form, even between different types of plants: in the new research, aloe vera and cabbage plants were used, while a “match” between tomato plants was previously examined. The models suggest that different types of plants may be able to communicate in the same way.
“I think it's entirely possible that signals could propagate through the root network. Spread in the ground, or in the common space even between different plants", says Shtessel . “The soil has the role of conductor.”
While this new study doesn't reach any definitive conclusions about what is said between plants or how much of the communication is intentional or unintentional, it does show the potential for sending messages about their growth or movement.
It also shows that networks mycorrhizal previously identified in other studies they are not necessarily necessary to establish a plant-level communication network. This poses some interesting questions for future studies. It's just the latest among the discoveries of a large list of plants. From how respond to touch to how we might possibly be able to communicate with them.
It is the first time in the world that a study investigates the cognitive processing of electrical signals passed and received by plants. Another problem will be to study plant communications with electrical waves through the air.
It is a different story that has not yet been studied thoroughly, but reminds me of a certain film by an Indian director.
The research was published on Communicative & Integrative Biology
