Plants scream when stressed

When they’re stressed out, plants emit ultrasonic sounds. We can’t hear them, but some animals can.

Stressed plants show altered phenotypes, including changes in color, smell, and shape. Yet, airborne sounds emitted by stressed plants have not been investigated before. Here we show that stressed plants emit airborne sounds that can be recorded from a distance and classified. We recorded ultrasonic sounds emitted by tomato and tobacco plants inside an acoustic chamber, and in a greenhouse, while monitoring the plant’s physiological parameters. We developed machine learning models that succeeded in identifying the condition of the plants, including dehydration level and injury, based solely on the emitted sounds. These informative sounds may also be detectable by other organisms. This work opens avenues for understanding plants and their interactions with the environment and may have significant impact on agriculture.

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)00262-3

https://mastodon.world/@benschulz/110117484707885513

plants [[ biodata sonification ]] [[ floraphone and speakjet diy plant biosonification device ]]

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Plants can tell when you're touching them
This article talks about a study showing that despite not having nerves, plants can detect touch.

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