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Bongo asked in Science & MathematicsBotany · 1 decade ago

Do plants communicate with one another?

Someone once told me that they read a scientific document which proved that plants and trees communicate with each other, via the use of high-pitched signals (inaudible to the Human ear). Can anyone confirm for me whether this is true?

Update:

Some_Dude: Thats a very good point, not considered that.

27 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Yes, they communicate chemically.

    No high-pitched tones, sorry. They have no mechanism, like a muscle, to emit a tone.

  • Eli
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago

    Plants do communicate with each other, however, not on a sentient manner and/or with sounds. Plants communicate via chemical signals.

    ================

    The idea that plants communicate chemically with one another has been around for a couple of decades, but it's only been in the last few years that solid scientific evidence has been accumulated to support the notion.

    Over three seasons spanning 1996 through 1998, researchers from the University of California in Davis monitored wild tobacco plants growing near sagebrush. They clipped the leaves of some of the sagebrush plants to mimic the damage caused by insects. The sagebrush plants responded with a puff of a chemical called methyl jasmonate. In response, tobacco plants downwind immediately begin boosting the level of an enzyme called PPO that makes their leaves less tasty to plant-eating insects. Within minutes of the clipping of the sagebrush, the plants' PPO levels quadrupled.

  • 1 decade ago

    a) Nothing can be proved only disproved

    b) Parliament contains many vegetables that can only communicate with each other via sounds which make no sense to the average human so it probably has some merit.

    c) Haven't you heard of whispering grass

  • 1 decade ago

    Plants don't communicate in the manner in which you describe, high-pitched signals. They don't have ears to hear. You might be able to kill one though in an experiment where you isolate a plant and bombard it with loud noises and another one exposed to calming noises could flourish. I think they can sense sound and absorb sounds and substances and emit substances. Some plants are synergistic and actually help each to flourish better.

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  • 1 decade ago

    aminals can´t speak though they have tounges but don´t have voice strings in their throat.

    Plants don´t have this organs but communicate with each other through chemical process within them. Example parasite plants takes food from host plant produce. The question is, how does the host plant know which substances is usefull for the parasite plant?

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Plants do not have any mechanism with which to produce sound. They only communicate via chemical signals.

  • 1 decade ago

    I DO BELIEVE PLANTS HAVE A COMUNICATION SYSTEM WHAT IT IS IS THE TIMING OF FRUITS ON THE TREE OR PLANT WHEN COME OUT WHEN OTHER PLANTS ARE WAITING I FEEL THEY HAVE A COMUNICATION WITH EACH OTHER (ie)THEY ARE LIVING AND WHEN I PUT MY ARMS AROUND A TREE I FEEL THEY CAME A DIFFERENT PATHWAY TO HUMAN KIND FROM EARTHS EARLY DAWN AND WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT YOU WILL FIND THAT YOU CAN TALK TO THE TREES AND PLANTS. I AM NOT A CRAZY MAN WHO BELIEVES THIS CRAP OF PAGAN THINGS LIVING IN THE TREES MOLE UK

  • kriend
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    After reading the very informative and interesting comments, had to add more. Plants communicate with tendrilled arms(vines sing"I'm gonna wrap my arms around ya." Cactus-"hit me with your best shot." Dandelion-"Up, up and away." Roses-"love hurts." This is only a partial listing of songs I've heard........

    Source(s): Oh yeah, I'm a fruitcake.
  • 1 decade ago

    I dont know about that, but they do use chemical signals. For instance if a bug is eating them they release signals to other neighboring plants to release chemical warfare scents to repel the bugs

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    I don't know about high pitched signals however there seems

    to be some very basic signals going on between some plants..

    These would not be signals involving any thought by plants..

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