Listen in as stressed plants pop off about their discomfort

If a plant is stressed but no one hears it, does it still make a sound? While that's not quite the way the saying goes, researchers have discovered that the answer to the question is a resounding "yes." By monitoring tomato and tobacco plants, they discovered that plants which are under stress – from conditions such as being cut or from having a lack of water – emit a series of popping sounds. Even though these sounds are produced at human conversational levels, they are emitted at a frequency too high for our own ears to pick up, although that's likely not the case for insects and a range of other animals.

Continue Reading

Category: Science

Tags: Plants, Agriculture, Tel Aviv University