Can plants and trees communicate with each other?

Question

Obviously not in a verbal way but do they have some way of interacting with each other?

Answer 1

Most probably yes. There is a great book on this subject, The Secret Life of Plants. The first few chapters are the most readable on the topic, and discuss how plants not only respond to external stimuli but appear to transmit their reaction to plants in pots with no physical connection inbetween. On a physical connection, trees in woodlands create networks with mycorrhizal fungi that serve as a conduit for nutrients, water, hormones and so on; we don't know all the secrets of this but we do know this network is intra- and inter-specific, so trees of different species are connected as well as trees of the same species. It seems as though parent trees 'look after' their own seedlings this way until they are old enough to take care of themselves, especially in water-deficient soils. It is highly probable that some type of communication exists, though it may be purely chemical.

Answer 2

Yes, there seems to be a lot of evidence that they do communicate but we don't really know how.

For example, when one tree has a load of ants eating its leaves the other trees of the same type in the vicinity are able to change their sap to become poisonous to the ants.

Answer 3

Plants emit volatiles in response to biotic and abiotic damage. Recent studies have shown that such volatiles affect behaviours of herbivores and carnivorous natural enemies of herbivores (Dicke et al., 1990b; Turlings et al., 1990; Takabayashi et al., 1991; Dicke, 1999; and Paré and Tumlinson, 1999). In addition, it is of great interest that volatiles released from damaged plants elicit defensive responses in undamaged receiver plants. This plant-plant communication through the atmosphere is referred to by using the terms "talking plants" and "listening plants". Some scientists have suggested that such communication might be of great advantage to listening plants in terms of defence against possible future damage from herbivores (Karban and Baldwin, 1997; Agrawal, 2000). In this paper, we review studies of this phenomenon, not only in terms of ditrophic interactions between listening plants and herbivores or pathogens, but also from the viewpoint of the tritrophic interactions among listening plants, herbivores and natural enemies of herbivores.

Answer 4

I don't see why not--everything interacts with each other, even if it is sharing carbon dioxide and competing for nutrients. And sometimes the tree limbs wave at the other plants. :)

Answer 5

Yes, all forms of life communicate in various different ways, so why not trees??

Answer 6

hi they, in a way i do think so but in a another i don't think so.
sometimes when i am in my dad car i see some of the leaves next to each other and it is like they are communicating with each other.

Answer 7

All things can communicate to one another on some level. They cell through cell theory that all things at the basis of existance are vibrating energy, like different notes, they vibrate at different rates to create different consistencies of matter.

Answer 8

yes by some sort of chemical reaction, for example if a forest of trees is under attack by a pathogen or fungal bacteria, the trees on the inner or outer edge of the forest will prepare themselves with reaction zones so that they dont come under attack from the same bacteria.

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF7/762.html

Answer 9

I think so. They use pollen and hormons and pheromons. Maybe trees can talk but in a different way.

Answer 10

I would say something really stupid and say 'ask them yourself', but I do think that they talk to teach other because plants are like that cos they are like the stationary version of humans!