Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Plants aren’t silent. They make clicking sounds, a study finds
When we are surrounded by plants in a quiet place, we feel peaceful and enjoy a noiseless environment. But are all plants really mute? Recently, researchers set up a closed environment to record the sound of plants with an ultrasonic microphone at very low frequencies that are difficult to be detected by human ears. Some of the plants were stressed, having been cut their stems or not watered for five days, and others were in a good state. They found that those stressed plants emitted popping or clicking sounds irregularly but distinctly, 30 to 50 times per hour, much more often than unstressed plants, which made only one or so in an hour. The researchers think the noises were made when air bubbles in the plant’s water column collapsed. If so, does that sound like a call for help? Well, even though sounds in the world are not always intentionally generated, other organisms can benefit from the sounds. For example, female moths might avoid such noise-making stressed flowers to lay eggs on. So, if the plants in your room aren’t in a good shape, you might be hearing their stress.
Enjoy reading the article and learning about the sound of plants.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/30/world/plants-make-sounds-scn/index.html
Plants aren’t silent. They make clicking sounds, a study finds
When we are surrounded by plants in a quiet place, we feel peaceful and enjoy a noiseless environment. But are all plants really mute? Recently, researchers set up a closed environment to record the sound of plants with an ultrasonic microphone at very low frequencies that are difficult to be detected by human ears. Some of the plants were stressed, having been cut their stems or not watered for five days, and others were in a good state. They found that those stressed plants emitted popping or clicking sounds irregularly but distinctly, 30 to 50 times per hour, much more often than unstressed plants, which made only one or so in an hour. The researchers think the noises were made when air bubbles in the plant’s water column collapsed. If so, does that sound like a call for help? Well, even though sounds in the world are not always intentionally generated, other organisms can benefit from the sounds. For example, female moths might avoid such noise-making stressed flowers to lay eggs on. So, if the plants in your room aren’t in a good shape, you might be hearing their stress.
Enjoy reading the article and learning about the sound of plants.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/30/world/plants-make-sounds-scn/index.html
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