July 1, 2014
Hearing danger: predator vibrations trigger plant chemical defenses
Experiments show chewing vibrations, but not wind or insect song, cause response As the cabbage butterfly caterpillar takes one crescent-shaped bite at a time from the edge of a leaf, it doesn’t go unnoticed. This tiny Arabidopsis mustard plant hears its predator loud and clear as chewing vibrations reverberate through leaves and stems, and it reacts with chemical defenses. Plants have long been known to detect sound, but why they have this ability has remained a mystery. University of Missouri experiments mark the first time scientists have shown that a plant responds to an ecologically relevant sound in its environment. “What…
