Plants May Be Able to Recognize Themselves

Until recently, evidence that plants were able to recognize each other, and cooperate for their mutual benefit has been scarce and controversial, mostly because a lot of people cannot accept the fact that it doesn't take a brain to want to ensure your survival as a species. But recent experiments, conducted on the little sagebrush plant, show that two individuals are not only able to recognize each other, but also seek similar company, and work together to steer clear of predators. This type of cooperative behavior, researchers believe, may be fundamental in ensuring their survival.

 

Previous studies have demonstrated that, if two unrelated plants grow near each other, their roots will attempt to compete for nutrients, water and sunlight, whereas, if two members of the same species grow together, they will not try to hinder the other one's growth. In animals, this tendency can be viewed from meerkats to lions and humans, when for instance a mother takes care of her own cubs, as well as of those belonging to other females related to it. The behavior is especially true in humans.

 

The new research, published in the scientific journal Ecology Letters, highlights the fact that even plants have the ability to distinguish between self and non-self, or between a member of their own gene pool and others. Authored by University of California in Davis (UCD) expert Richard Karban, and Japanese scientist Kaori Shiojiri, from the Kyoto University in Otsu, the paper reveals that fact that, in some species, plant cuttings are able to recognize that they are genetic kin even when coming from the same plant. This behavior has thus far been thought improbable, if not impossible.

 

In the study, several plants were placed in a garden, divided into two groups. One featured clones and genetic parents, and the other clones and unrelated individuals. After they were planted, researchers clipped some of the leaves from clones, mimicking the attack of grasshoppers. After one year of research, the study found that the genetic parents of clones exhibited 42 percent less damage, while the unrelated neighbors of clones in the other group were far more likely to have been attacked.

 

This means that, somehow, the clones “told” their parents about the threat, and that the parents took evasive actions. The result “implies that plants are capable of more sophisticated behavior than we imagined,” BBC News quotes Karban as saying.