Plant Ability: 5 Surprising Things to Know
Our culture teaches us at a young age that there is a hierarchy of beings with humans at the top. We learn that animals are next in the hierarchy. They also have brains and can feel. We objectify everything else, including plants. Recent research, however, indicates that plants may be more like us than we thought. These studies show remarkable plant ability, which may leave you wondering, are plants sentient?
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A Review of Thus Spoke the Plant
Monica Gagliano, Ph.D., was formerly a research associate professor of evolutionary ecology and a fellow at the Australian Research Council. She is currently a research affiliate at the Environmental Institute at the University of Sydney and an adjunct senior research fellow at the Centre for Evolutionary Biology at the University of Western Australia. She shares her research about plant bioacoustics and cognition in her book, Thus Spoke the Plant: A Remarkable Journey of Groundbreaking Scientific Discoveries & Personal Encounters with Plants.
Gagliano summarizes plants’ ability to communicate nonverbally, which many experts have thoroughly described. She also shares that plants can emit noises, learn, remember, habituate, associate stimuli, and interpret and respond to vibrations. You can learn more about each of these plant abilities and the research that provides evidence in Thus Spoke the Plant.
Plant Ability 1: Nonverbal Communication
Many researchers have studied nonverbal plant communication. One of the most commonly discussed methods by which plants communicate is chemical. Plants emit airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can warn nearby plants of potential harm. Plants can also communicate through touch and mechanical contact and the transmission and reflection of light.
In my opinion, one of the most interesting methods of plant communication occurs underground. Plants send and receive information through mycorrhizal (fungi and roots) networks. The role of fungi in plant communication is fascinating.
Plant Ability 2: “Speaking”
Although plant communication is widely understood and accepted in the scientific community, plant speech is not. Gagliano, who is open to learning unexpected revelations, wanted to determine if the assumption that plants could not speak (i.e., emit sound) was true.
She set up an experiment in which plants were clearly communicating, but none of the known nonverbal communication avenues (i.e., airborne chemical signals, touch, light, or underground networks) were available. This proved that there was at least one additional method of communication. However, it did not prove that they emitted sounds, heard sounds, and modified their behaviors in response to sounds. It did encourage her to keep researching.
Later, she experimentally demonstrated and recorded corn kernels making chirpy, vegetal clicking sounds, confirming her theory that plants can “speak.”
Plant Ability 3: Habituation
To determine if plants could learn and remember (i.e., become habituated), Gagliano set up an experiment in which she performed controlled drops of Mimosa plants.
“Could Mimosa truly learn from new experiences and flexibly alter her behavior? Specifically, could this plant stop simply reacting…to a disturbance that appeared to be a threat at first but quickly proved to cause no harm?”
Monica Gagliano, Thus Spoke the Plant(2018):59
Initially, the plants closed their leaves in response to the threat they perceived during their fall. However, the drop did not harm them, and with their leaves closed, they could obtain less light. Eventually, they learned that the fall would not hurt them. They disregarded their instinctive behavior — their evolutionary survival mechanism — and kept their leaves open.
Plant Ability 4: Associative Learning
In a Pavlovian experiment with pea seedlings, Gagliano discovered that plants learn to associate stimuli in a process called associative learning, which is more complex than simple habituation. She set up a maze with fans and lights to test her theory.
“The young plants were correctly predicting the imminent arrival of light (when) and its direction (where) based on the presence and position of the neutral conditioning stimulus, the fan; in response, they were directing their slender vegetal forms into that arm of the maze.”
Monica Gagliano, Thus Spoke the Plant(2018):83
Plant Ability 5: “Hearing”
In another experiment with pea seedlings, Gagliano demonstrated that their roots would grow towards the mere sound of water — even without water in the vicinity. This shows that plants can hear (i.e., perceive and respond to vibrations).
Conclusion
Through all of her experiments, Gagliano “has extended the concept of cognition (including perception, learning processes, memory, and consciousness) in plants” (160).
In Thus Spoke the Plant, Gagliano also reveals her spiritual connection with the plants, who inspired her research. Although I have not had such spiritual experiences, I hope to grow in a relationship with all more-than-human inhabitants with whom we share this beautiful planet. They have a lot to teach us. We have a lot to learn.
Do plants communicate with you? Tell us about it in the comments below, on Facebook, or on Instagram!
