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Plant intelligence

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+#Redirect [[Plant intelligence]]
-[[File:Grapevines intelligent growth 1.jpg|thumb|225px|Vine tendril. Note how the plant reaches for and purposely wraps around the galvanised wire provided for the purpose. This is a very tough twig and appears to have no other purpose than support for the plant. Nothing else grows from it. It must reach out softly, then wrap around and then dry and toughen. See more at [[thigmotropism]].]]
-In [[botany]], '''plant intelligence''' is the ability of [[plant]]s to sense the environment and adjust their [[plant morphology|morphology]], [[plant physiology|physiology]] and [[phenotypic plasticity|phenotype]] accordingly.<ref>{{cite doi|10.1016/j.tplants.2005.07.005}}</ref> Research draws on the fields of [[plant physiology]], [[plant ecology|ecology]] and [[molecular biology]].
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-[[Intelligence]] is an [[umbrella term]] describing abilities such as the capacities for [[abstraction|abstract thought]], [[understanding]], [[communication]], [[reason]]ing, [[learning]], learning from past experiences, [[plan]]ning, and [[problem solving]]. Studies indicate plants are capable of [[problem solving]] and [[communication]].
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-==Problem solving==
+}}
-Plants adapt their behaviour in a variety of ways:
-* Active foraging for light and nutrients. They do this by changing their architecture{{vague|date=June 2012}}, physiology and phenotype.<ref name="dekroon95">De Kroon, H. and Hutchings, M.J. (1995) [http://www.jstor.org/pss/2261158 Morphological plasticity in clonal plants: the foraging concept reconsidered]. J. Ecol. 83, 143–152</ref><ref>{{cite doi|10.1023/A:1019640813676}}</ref><ref>{{cite doi|10.1016/S0065-2504(08)60215-9}}</ref>
-* Leaves and branches are positioned and oriented in response to light source.<ref name="dekroon95"/><ref>{{cite doi|10.1126/science.199.4331.888}}</ref>
-* Ability to detect soil volume and adapt growth accordingly independently of [[plant nutrition|nutrient]] availability.<ref>{{cite doi|10.2307/1938905}}</ref><ref>{{cite jstor|2389968}}</ref><ref>{{cite doi|10.1016/S0065-2504(08)60032-X}}</ref>
-* [[Inducible plant defenses against herbivory|Adaptively defend against herbivores]].
-==Communication==
-Plants respond to volatile signals produced by other plants.<ref>Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 October; 87(19): 7713–7716. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC54818/</ref><ref>{{cite doi|10.1023/A:1007893626166}}</ref>
-[[Cleve Backster]] reported observing that a polygraph instrument attached to a plant leaf registered a changes in electrical resistance when the plant was harmed or even threatened with harm. His argument was that plants may be able to perceive human intentions, and as Backster began to investigate further, he also reported a finding that other human thoughts and emotions caused reactions in plants that could be recorded by a polygraph instrument.<ref>Cleve Backster, ''Primary Perception: Biocommunication with plants, living foods, and human cells'' (2003) White Rose Millennium Press, ISBN 0-9664354-3-5, [http://www.primaryperception.com/book.html Website]</ref> His work was in part inspired by the research of Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, who claimed to have discovered that playing certain kinds of music in the area where plants grew caused them to grow faster.
-==Mechanisms==
-{{Main|Signal transduction|Plant neurobiology|Plant hormone|}}
-In plants, the mechanism responsible for adaptation is [[signal transduction]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Scheel |first1=Dierk |last2=Wasternack |first2=C. |title=Plant signal transduction |year=2002 |publisher= Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-963879-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite doi|10.1034/j.1399-3054.2001.1120202.x}}</ref><ref>{{cite pmid|12194182}}</ref><ref>{{cite pmid|10200239}}</ref> Plants do not have a brain or [[neuronal network]], but reactions within signalling pathways may provide a biochemical basis for learning and memory.<ref>{{cite pmid|9888852}}</ref> Controversially, the brain is used as a metaphor in plant intelligence to provide an integrated view of signalling,<ref>{{cite doi|10.1016/j.tplants.2006.06.009}}</ref> (see [[plant neurobiology]]).
-Plant cells can be electrically excitable and can display rapid electrical responses ([[action potential]]s) to environmental stimuli. These action potentials can influence processes such as [[actin]]-based cytoplasmic streaming, [[rapid plant movement|plant organ movements]], wound responses, respiration, [[photosynthesis]] and flowering.<ref>Wagner E, Lehner L, Normann J, Veit J, Albrechtova J (2006). Hydroelectrochemical integration of the higher plant—basis for electrogenic flower induction. pp 369–389 In: Balusˇka F, Mancuso S, Volkmann D (eds) Communication in plants: neuronal aspects of plant life. Springer, Berlin.</ref><ref>Fromm J, Lautner S. (2007). Electrical signals and their physiological significance in plants. Plant Cell Environ. 30(3):249-57. {{DOI|10.1111/j.1365-3040.2006.01614.x}} PMID 17263772</ref><ref>{{cite pmid|19129416}}</ref><ref>{{cite jstor|4353850}}</ref>
-==Plant perception==
-{{Cleanup|section|date=August 2010}}
-{{Main|Plant perception (physiology)}}
-Plants have many [[inducible plant defenses against herbivory|strategies to fight off pests]]. For example, they can produce different toxins ([[phytoalexin]]s) against invaders or they can induce rapid [[cell death]] in invading cells to hinder the pests from spreading out. These strategies depend on quick and reliable recognition-systems.
-===Alarm signals===
-Wounded tomatoes are known to produce the volatile odour methyl-jasmonate as an alarm-signal.<ref name="farmer1990">{{cite web|author=E E Farmer and C A Ryan |url=http://www.pnas.org/content/87/19/7713.abstract |title=Interplant communication: airborne methyl jasmonate induces synthesis of proteinase inhibitors in plant leaves |publisher=Pnas.org |date=1990-10-01 |accessdate=2012-07-23}}</ref> Plants in the neighbourhood can then
-detect the chemical and prepare for the attack by producing chemicals that defend against insects or attract predators.<ref name="farmer1990"/>
-===Light===
-{{Main|Photomorphogenesis|photoperiodism}}
-Many plant-organs contain photo-sensitive compounds ([[phototropin]]s, [[cryptochrome]]s and [[phytochrome]]s) each reacting very specifically to certain wavelengths of light. These light-sensors tell the plant if it's day or night, how long the day is ([[photoperiodism]]), how much light is available and from where the light comes. Plants also can detect harmful ultraviolet B-rays and then start producing pigments which filter out these rays.<ref>Åke Strid and Robert J. Porra. [http://pcp.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/33/7/1015 Alterations in Pigment Content in Leaves of Pisum sativum After Exposure to Supplementary UV-B]. Plant and Cell Physiology, 1992, Vol. 33, No. 7 1015-1023</ref>
-===Contact stimuli===
-{{Main|Thigmotropism|Thigmomorphogenesis}}
-The mimosa plant (''[[Mimosa pudica]]'') makes its thin leaves point down at the slightest touch and [[carnivorous plant]]s such as the [[Venus flytrap]] snap shut by the touch of insects. {{citation needed|date=November 2011}}
-Mechanical perturbation can also be detected by plants.<ref>{{cite doi|10.1007/BF00027213}}</ref> [[Jasmonate]] levels also increase rapidly in response to mechanical perturbations such as tendril coiling.<ref>{{cite doi|10.1007/BF00201050}}</ref>
-[[Poplar]] stems can detect reorientation and inclination ([[equilibrioception]]).<ref>{{cite pmid|19453506}}</ref>
-==Plant adaptation vs plant intelligence==
-It has been argued that although plants are capable of adaptation, it should not be called intelligence. ''"A bacterium can monitor its environment and instigate developmental processes appropriate to the prevailing circumstances, but is that intelligence? Such simple adaptation behaviour might be bacterial intelligence but is clearly not animal intelligence."''<ref name="firn2004">{{cite pmid|15023701}}</ref>
-However, plant intelligence fits with the definition of intelligence proposed by [[David Stenhouse]] in a book he wrote about evolution where he described it as "adaptively variable behaviour during the lifetime of the individual".<ref>http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17523535.700-not-just-a-pretty-face.html</ref>
-It is also argued that a plant cannot have goals because operational control of the plant's organs is devolved.<ref name="firn2004"/>
-==History==
-[[Charles Darwin]] studied the movement of plants and in 1880 published a book [[The Power of Movement in Plants]].  In the book he concludes:
-<blockquote>
-It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the tip of the [[radicle]] thus endowed [..] acts like the brain of one of the lower animals; the brain being situated within the anterior end of the body, receiving impressions from the sense-organs, and directing the several movements.
-</blockquote>
-[[India]]n scientist Sir [[Jagdish Chandra Bose]] began to conduct experiments on plants in the year 1900. He found that every plant and every part of a plant appeared to have a sensitive [[nervous system]] and responded to shock by a spasm just as an animal muscle does.<ref>Bose, J.C., The Nervous Mechanisms of Plants, Longmans, Green and Co., London. 1926</ref><ref>{{cite doi|10.1038/118654a0}}</ref>
-Bose's experiments stopped at this conclusion, but American [[polygraph]] expert [[Cleve Backster]] conducted research that led him to believe that plants can communicate with other lifeforms.<ref>C Backster. Evidence of a primary perception in plant life. International Journal of Parapsychology, 1968</ref><ref>{{cite doi|10.1126/science.189.4201.478}}</ref> Backster's interest in the subject began in February 1966, when Backster wondered if he could measure the rate at which water rises from a philodendron's root area into its leaves. Because a polygraph or "lie detector" can measure electrical resistance, and water would alter the resistance of the leaf, he decided that this was the correct instrument to use. After attaching a polygraph to one of the plant's leaves, Backster claimed that, to his immense surprise, "the tracing began to show a pattern typical of the response you get when you subject a human to emotional stimulation of short duration".
-==See also==
-*[[Plant perception (paranormal)]]
-*[[Plant perception (physiology)]]
-*[[Plant rights]]
-* ''[[The Secret Life of Plants]]''
-==References==
-{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
-{{DEFAULTSORT:Plant Intelligence}}
-[[Category:Intelligence]]
-[[Category:Botany|Intelligence]]
-[[Category:Plant physiology]]
-[[Category:Paranormal terminology]]