Animals respond to secret sounds of the plant, say scientists

New studies that respond to sounds arise from the sounds that open, opening the possibility that an invisible ecosystem may exist between them.

In the first in history, the team from the University of Tel -Vala found that the women’s moths avoided laying eggs on the plants of tomatoes when they sounded that they were associated with the trouble, which indicates that they could be unhealthy.

Two years ago, the team was the first to show that the plants were screaming when they were experienced or unhealthy.

The sounds are on the limits of human hearing, but they can be perceived by many insects, bats and some mammals.

“This is the first demonstration of an animal that responds to the sounds issued by the plant,” said Professor Yosya Josel of Tel -Awiva.

“These are assumptions at this stage, but it may be that all kinds of animals will make decisions based on the sounds they hear from plants, such as pollinating or hiding inside or there is a plant.”

Researchers have made a series of carefully controlled experiments to ensure that the moths responded to the sound rather than the appearance of plants.

Now they will explore the sounds that make different plants, and whether other species make on their decisions, for example, pollinating or hiding inside or there is a plant.

“You might think that there may be a lot of complex interactions, and this is the first step,” says prof.

According to Professor Lilakh, another scope is whether the plants can transmit information to each other through sound and act, for example, the maintenance of water in the drought points of the running.

“This is an exciting question,” she said BBC News.

“When the plant is emphasized, the body is most concerned about it by other plants, and they can respond largely.”

Researchers emphasize that the plants are not reasonable. They sounds are created by the physical effects caused by changing their local conditions. What today’s opening shows that these sounds can be useful to other animals and possibly plants that can perceive these sounds.

If so, the plants and animals have compromised the ability to produce and listen to sounds for their mutual benefit, Prof.

“Plants can develop to make more sounds or louder if they benefit, and animals can develop accordingly so that they can accept this huge amount of information.

“This is a huge, unintelligible field – the whole world that expects it to be discovered.”

In the experiment, the researchers focused on women’s butterflies, which usually lay eggs on tomato plants so that the larvae can feed when they hatched.

The assumption was that the moth was looking for the best place to put eggs – a healthy plant that can properly nourish the larvae. So, if the plant signals that it is dehydrated and under stress, the question is whether the butterflies will listen to the warning and avoid laying the eggs on it?

The answer was that they did not put eggs, because of the sound that produced the plants.

The study was published in the ELIFE magazine.