Plants: the secret life of silent communicators

Plants: The silent communicators

Imagine a world where plants aren’t just passive green beings but active communicators. They might seem like they’re just sitting there, but plants are capable of some pretty wild stuff. One particularly eye-opening example: plants can, more or less, see.

How plants communicate

Picture this: a new plant joins the neighborhood. Almost immediately, the nearby plants know it’s there. Plants have various ways to communicate, like sending volatile chemicals through the air or using underground fungal networks. But when it comes to sensing potential competitors, plants rely heavily on their visual systems.

Plants don’t have eyes like animals, but they do have photoreceptors—proteins that detect certain wavelengths of light. One crucial color for plants is “far-red,” light at the extreme red end of the spectrum, beyond what humans can see. Green vegetation reflects a lot of far-red light, so when a plant’s photoreceptors detect high levels of far-red light, it knows there’s another plant nearby. This allows the plant to “see” a future competitor before it becomes a problem.

Spotting potential competitors

With this advance notice, the plant can take action. While they can’t move, plants can grow faster, sprout new leaves, or even flower early to get a reproductive edge. These responses can start just minutes after detecting a change in far-red light.

Eyes to see

You might argue that an organism needs eyes to see, but what plants do—using specialized equipment to gather information about light and changing their behavior accordingly—is remarkably similar to what animals do with their eyes.

Importance for humans

The information conveyed by different wavelengths of light is crucial not just for plants but also for humans studying them. Light quality affects how plants interact with their neighbors, which has significant implications for ecosystem function.

ASCEND Project

Enter the ASCEND project, funded by the National Science Foundation and led by Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Phil Townsend, and Peter Reich. This team studies the role of light quality in ecosystem diversity and productivity. They use observations, experiments, and theory to understand changes in plant biodiversity in a rapidly changing world. They’re also training the next generation of integrative biologists to see how life’s variation is connected across scales and impacted by global change.

So next time you walk past a plant, remember: it’s not just sitting there. It’s seeing, sensing, and communicating in ways we’re only beginning to understand. I don’t know about you, but I’m seeing plants in a whole new light.

References ALL Plants Have Color Vision?! (youtube.com).