Plants Communicate? Can you imagine if Plants have the ability to communicate with each other as a defense mechanism when they are threatened?

We are aware that plants have been releasing gas into the earth’s atmosphere, commonly carbon dioxide, oxygen and water vapor during the process of photosynthesis and respiration.  These compounds are very important in our ecosystems especially in the trophic structure where the flow of energy and routes of elements are recycled.  More importantly these gaseous compounds as well as others, including but not limited to ethylene, methanol, acetone etc., are now recognized as volatile being released by plants as a defense mechanism against herbivores.

Plants doesn’t have the ability to move around like other organisms when they are threatened, so their only defense are the emission of these compounds.  Initially it was believed that these compounds and byproducts were just released substances that was essential to us but later scientists discovered that they were “botanical cry for help.”   In comparison to the way humans communicate, we are more complex in our response to stimuli.  Messages are conveyed to the brain via neurotransmitters that carry signals in and out the Central Nervous System.  On the other hand volatile compounds acts as a communication mechanism because it releases messages within the plant’s structure or neighboring plants as well as they act as an attractant to other organisms. 
Many experiments have been conducted to study plants behavior.  With reference to the study done by Professor Richard Karban of the Department of Entomology, at the University of California, he had a breakthrough when he discovered that sagebrush could communicate and cooperate with each other.  He believes that “plants not only respond to reliable cues in their environments but also produce cues that communicate with other plants and with other organisms, such as pollinators, seed disperses, herbivores and enemies of those herbivores.”

 

They also found that sagebrush convey messages to neighboring sagebrush if it feels threatens by herbivores.  His team had simulated an attack by clipping one plant and nearby plants experienced no leaf loss while plants that were close to untouched plants were eaten by herbivores.  They also tried root contact but there were no signs of resistance. Considering all the technology today, scientists have gone beyond experiments to altering the genetics of plants. 

According to the definition, these plants have acquired a unique name, “transgenic” plants.  Transgenic plants possess a gene or genes that have been transferred from a different species. Although DNA of another species can be integrated in a plant genome by natural processes, the term "transgenic plants" refers to plants created in a laboratory using recombinant DNA technology. The aim is to design plants with specific characteristics by artificial insertion of genes from other species or sometimes entirely different kingdoms. 

In other words scientist have taken matter into their own hands while nature is left to deal with all the contaminants that we have imposed in our environment and chemical imbalance in the atmosphere. It is believed that this method serves important roles in securing a sustainable future for agriculture by protecting crops from pests and helping land and water to be used more efficiently.  Furthermore, production of transgenic plants in wide-crosses by plant breeders has been a vital aspect of conventional plant breeding for about a century. Without it, security of our food supply against losses caused by crop pests such as rusts and mildews would be severely compromised.

Transgenic plants have been deliberately developed for a variety of reasons: longer shelf life, disease resistance, herbicide resistance, pest resistance, non-biological stress resistances, such as to drought or nitrogen starvation, nutritional improvement, and most importantly to control the worldwide dilemma of starvation.

 

With all these benefits who can say no to such an ingenious concept? Abiotic factors are parts of the ecosystem, which are not alive, such as climate, salt and mineral content, and temperature. Genes improving fitness in relation to biotic factors could disturb the (sometimes fragile) balance of an ecosystem. How about the ecological aspects of it? For instance, a wild plant receiving a pest resistance gene from a transgenic plant might become resistant to one of its natural pests, say, a beetle. This could allow the plant to increase in frequency, while at the same time animals higher up in the food chain, which are at least partly dependent on that beetle as food source, might decrease in abundance. However, the exact consequences of a transgene with a selective advantage in the natural environment are almost impossible to predict.

What if our groundbreaking discoveries turned fatal and become a biological mishap?  Considering how intelligent plants are by nature and with their cells being tampered with to create new species, what if human error created a force to be reckoned with? What if there is chemical warfare between plants and man?  We see many failures of man in technology and even simple errors exist in daily weather forecasting.  So what if the trees evolve into more intelligent creatures and decide that they will defend themselves against
mankind?

With reference to the movie the Happening, we see ecological disturbances where toxins were released in the air and it affects the part of the brain where people had no control over inflicting harming on themselves. On the TV a scientist warned that the event was like a “red tide; the first sign that the planet is rejecting humans as pests.”

Elliot Moore is a high school science teacher who quizzes his class about an article in the New York Times. It's about the sudden, mysterious disappearance of bees. Meanwhile Nature was doing something inexplicable that no one seems to be able to understand.  There were many assumptions about terrorist attacks because we are so consumed with fear of ourselves that it was unimaginable to think that nature can respond in such a manner.

It all began in Central Park. Suddenly and inexplicably, the behavior of everyone in the park changes in a most bizarre and horrible way. Soon, the strange behavior spreads throughout the city and beyond. Elliot, his wife, Alma, and Jess, the young daughter of a friend, will only have theories to guide them where to run and where to hide. But theories may not be enough.  Whatever forces led to this occurrence was believed to have 3 stages:

1.      Loss of speech

2.      Physical disorientation

3.      Death

In conclusion, one can say that we coexist with many different species of organism and the plant in particular would have devastating effect if they acquired intelligence.  We would all pay for all of our destructive behaviors towards plants. Whatever science has to say about it will be, in the end, only a theory.  When a more urgent dilemma hits the planet, they will make it seem impossible or some event that occur at random with no explanation.  The Happening can be considered as a freak of nature but what if the theory does become a reality?

 

 

 

Citations
University of California - Davis. "Plant Communication: Sagebrush Engage In Self-recognition and Warn of Danger." ScienceDaily 20 June 2009. 29 June 2009 <http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/06/090619171244.htm>.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0906-plants_under_attack.htm

The Internet Movie Database  Plot Summary by J. Spurlin

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