The basis of our reality in Earth School is Our Universal Intelligence. As Amit Goswami, the quantum physicist, concluded, “There is nothing but God.” There is increasing evidence that animals and plants all share in this universal consciousness, communicating with each other and altering their environment. This video demonstrates that plants communicate with each other, including communications containing emotion such as alarm.
A transcript of the video follows the video controls.
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Transcript of the Video
Okay, so watch this. What you’re seeing right here is literally plant communication. Plants talking to each other. And specifically, one of the plants warning the other plant that something is going on and it should probably get ready. Something we know that a lot of plants do all the time. But this time scientists were able to help us visualize this through a very unique imaging technique involving fluorescence.
And so, hello and this is Anton. Today we’re going to be discussing this really, really intriguing study from Japan, where the scientists developed a technique allowing us to visualize plant communication, helping us understand how all of this works, and possibly one day, understanding what these plants are saying. But first, let’s discuss the biology behind this and what exactly is happening in this particular video.
We’re Scratching the Surface of How Plants Communicate and What They Communicate
First of all, obviously, when it comes to a lot of plants, we’re still scratching the surface in trying to understand how exactly they communicate and what they communicate when it comes to neighboring plants. But we know that they do communicate and they do send all sorts of signals. For example, in a lot of different forests, a lot of signaling is usually done through the root system. But we know that certain plants also communicate through the leaves and are even able to use the leaves as a kind of a sensory organ. Or even use the stem, as we’ve learned from one of the previous videos from a few years back. Apparently, certain plants basically start screaming when experiencing extreme duress or extreme stress. You can learn about this in one of the videos in the description.
Researchers Know Lots of Plants Release Compounds to Communicate
But for many years, researchers knew that a lot of plants can actually release certain compounds from inside their leaves. And many plants are actually surrounded by a lot of these compounds at all times. And so even though we don’t really see these compounds, you can kind of imagine it as something like this. Basically, if we could see them, they would look like this fog in the forest, and it would be everywhere. But it wouldn’t be just fog, this would literally be communication. Little messages from here and there. And for plants, we know that they definitely use what’s known as VOCs, Volatile Organic Compounds. Basically, the same stuff that makes perfumes smell, or even things like methanol that give the compound its minty smell. And so that minty smell, that’s VOCs, that’s the Volatile Organic Compounds. But even though for us it’s just something that smells nice, for plants it’s a message.
Plants Attacked by Herbivores Basically Go Crazy
And back in 2019, researchers definitively discovered that when a lot of plants get attacked by all types of herbivores, such as for example various beetles or caterpillars, they basically go crazy releasing all sorts of volatiles into the air that to some extent serves as their scream. And that scream serves several purposes. It’s both a defense and a warning, and it’s something that plants evolved for millions of years. Turns out that for a lot of these plants, quite a lot of these volatiles serve as a message for predators. These chemicals physically attract predators that would usually find these caterpillars or these beetles tasty. And so as soon as a caterpillar starts biting into the leaf, just the mechanical damage itself automatically releases a lot of these volatiles.
In case you’re wondering, a lot of them are technically known as green leaf volatiles, some of them are known as terpenoids, but there are definitely so many more we still haven’t found. And some of them even repel some of the herbivores, or basically they serve as a kind of a toxic element for a lot of these caterpillars. For example, nicotine, the stuff in the cigarettes, and the stuff that’s actually found in a lot of different plants and not just tobacco, is one example of these volatiles that serves as a kind of a repellent for a lot of plants being attacked by various herbivores.
Most Plants Have Multiple Layers of Defense
And so most plants usually have multiple layers of defense, but one of the more intriguing discoveries is of course from this study, and it’s something that we never really understood until recently. And it’s literally what you see right here. This shows us that as one plant gets in trouble and gets attacked by herbivores, it produces volatiles that then communicate the same to the other plant, with that second plant basically getting ready or maybe even helping the first plant by releasing additional volatiles.
We Don’t Really Know Exactly What’s Going On
In reality we don’t really know exactly what’s going on. All we know is that one plant directly responds to the calls of the other. And so here is exactly what the researchers did. They actually based the study on their previous research with the Mimosa Pudica, also known as the touch-me-not plant. And so here by modifying certain calcium receptors inside the plant, the researchers were able to physically visualize how the plant responds when it’s being touched. This process is known as calcium signaling and it’s a type of communication inside cells that’s used by a lot of types of life. Our muscles and our neurons use it, and well, so do a lot of different plants, including this one.
Researchers Created a System to See Plant Fluorescent Proteins
And so here, by once again turning these calcium receptors fluorescent, or by basically having these plants create fluorescent proteins, researchers created a pump system where the plant that was being eaten by caterpillars would send its signals by having the air pumped away from it into the bottle containing plants that were not being attacked. So basically, there was just air exchange, and as soon as air from the first plant reached the second plant, it literally started to emit extremely similar signals. They responded with large bursts of calcium signals, or produced those specific fluorescent proteins, with all of this starting almost right away and being visible after just a few minutes.
But specifically, the researchers were then able to identify these signals. Two compounds you see right here, Z3 -HAL and E2 -HAL. Both acting as a kind of a message for the other plant. It actually does not seem to have any other purpose except for some kind of a warning or literally communication. It didn’t repel anyone, it also did not protect the plant, but it made the other plant respawn right away. While even going as far as discovering which layers inside the leaf were responsible for most of this. For example, we have these guard cells that create tiny entrances that usually are used for breathing. We also have a very complex mesophyll layer, representing the main tissue, and the epidermis layer that serves as a kind of a structural foundation. And as soon as the plant received Z3 help, these guard cells would react almost right away. It took less than a minute, with everything inside the leaf, the mesophyll layer, reacting a little bit later.
It Seems the Signals Are a Form of Plant Altruism
And by itself this is an incredible discovery, although obviously does not answer one question. What exactly are the plants saying, and more importantly, why is this even being done? These two compounds only warn the neighboring plants, they don’t actually protect the plant from anything. And so is this basically an example of some kind of a plant altruism, one helping the other? If so, why? I mean, it’s literally like cabbage saying to the other cabbage, “Oh man, I’m being eaten right now, so yeah, you better get ready.” So the actual purpose for this is obviously a little bit unclear, but because this is visual proof that plants do communicate.
Every Forest May Be Filled with Chatter
And there is now this technique that allows us to visualize this extremely well. I think it’s just a matter of time now before we discover something absolutely incredible about plant communication. For all we know, every forest out there is literally filled with chatter from every single plant. Not so far off from what Tolkien imagined when he talked about ants talking to one another extremely slowly. And that of course might completely change our perspective on plants, trees, and everything around us.
But obviously, at least for now, all of this is just pure speculation. We know that there is communication, we just don’t really know what it’s for. But hopefully in the next few years, there will be additional studies that might produce even more results, possibly allowing us to not just listen to these plants, but maybe even communicate with them to some extent, in a kind of a similar way how the scientists recently communicated with a whale. You can learn more about this in one of the videos in the description.
This video by Anton Petrov explains a technique that shows plants communicating with each other.
