I will be the first to admit that I am much more interested in human biology and pharmacology than the science of plants, however when I discovered this fact it really surprised and intrigued me. We have known for a while that animals such as dolphins and other sea creatures alongside some mammals communicate with each other, but it had never been a thought in my mind that perhaps plants could communicate. That being said, they are living creatures and scientifically it makes sense. They too have predators that target them and communication would offer a great opportunity for them to avoid extinction due to constant attack from predators (one of which would be us humans).
You’re probably thinking: ‘but plants don’t have mouths’. That is indeed correct. Plants have mustered a new way to communicate, releasing odorous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through the air alongside soluble chemicals into the soil where they are transported through networks forged by soil fungi.
This is important, as seedlings use this communication to communicate their locations between each other. This stops them growing too close to each other, which allows their roots to grow in enough space for them to access ample nutrients and water.
Although the research regarding chemicals in soil is recent by Ninkovic and colleagues in the Plos One journal, the idea that plants can communicate is one that has been considered in the science community for decades. In the 1980’s, it was considered that trees send out W-waves to each other. These waves were thought to be electrical signals that were sent out when their neighbouring trees were cut down. This idea kick started the interests of scientists regarding plant communication. Without this concept, we would not now know that plants can warn their fellow neighbours of possible aphid attacks using the thread-like fungi filaments in the soil which we explored previously. They can also use these to detect if the plants around them are their own species or ‘strangers’!
All things considered, this is actually very complex. When compared with humans, who simply open their mouths mechanically and blurt out a series of noises to get what we want, plants have much more interesting means of communication.