Plant 'communication'

[ashley]

To my surprise we have no thread on plant 'communication' but here's an interesting article on the BBC website.

[ian mcdonald]

It is interesting Ashley. Having read the article it seems that the experts differ in their interpretation of "talking" rather than any form of communication. It was said on a TV programme that trees under attack from some source could communicate with nearby trees so that they could build a defence against the attack. We think we know all about wildlife but there is still much to learn.

[ashley]

Agreed Ian.  The same thought often crosses my mind for example when looking at a frame of bees and all that's going on.  There's so much even about basic processes in nature that we don't yet understand.

[ian mcdonald]

It reminds me of a question I once asked but could not get an answer to. How do bee orchids know what a bee looks like?

[ArnoldT]

Ian

The short answer is that the orchid  could care less.  An orchid evolved that just happened to look like a bee and it was more successful in getting pollinated so it passed along it's genes.  The ones that evolved and didn't look like a bee were not successful and disappeared.

[Erwinia]

yep, in each generation the orchid varyies some of the features which attract the bee. The ones that prove successful reproduce better than the rest.

[MarcR]

The concept is fascinating.  Perhaps we will be reminded of the importance of non-verbal communication in human interaction; whether or not plants communicate..