Plants Are More Responsive To Insect Pest Attacks Than You Think
Plants are living organisms just like us, but do they feel pain? People have claimed that grass is often murdered by lawnmowers, and the smell of freshly cut grass could be a distress signal. This may or may not be true, but as it happens, a plant undergoes drastic internal changes in response to being attacked by insect pests. Surprisingly, plants can even communicate with other plants when being attacked by bugs. These defensive signals are facilitated by calcium. Calcium is used by plants in order to signal threat to other leaves where calcium quickly spreads. An influx of calcium indicates that a plant has activated its defense mechanism in response to damaging outside threats.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison have uncovered far more information relating to how plants respond to insect pests. The breakthrough in research occured after scientists used a green fluorescent protein in order to light-up a plant’s physiological processes. Although scientists have long known that calcium makes up a significant part of a plant’s defense mechanism, nobody knew about the process that prompts the calcium into spreading from leaf to leaf in the first place. Now, thanks to the fluorescent protein, researchers have recorded hours of video footage that shows a plant’s internal mechanisms. It turns out that the calcium influx is prompted by glutamate. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter in many mammals, including humans. When a plant is attacked by an insect pest, glutamate activates a wave of calcium. In one video, a plant was damaged by a hungry caterpillar. Once the insect bit into the plant, researchers could see a wave of calcium fill the plant and spread to its leaves. The calcium is sent to other leaves in order to warn them of impending attack. The calcium warning system moved quickly at about one millimeter per second. There is still much research to be done in this area before anything groundbreaking can be found.
Do you believe that plants can release chemicals that repel insect pests?