The researchers recorded their sounds. The plants screamed for help when they were exhausted

A recent study by researchers – on tomatoes, tobacco and the vertebral cactus – has shown that plants emit ultrasound when subjected to severe stress conditions

In recent years, researchers have discovered that plants are able to see, hear and smell, but no one thought they could make sounds the same way as calling for help

This was revealed by researchers at Tel Aviv University when they first recorded sounds emitted by plants when exposed to harsh environmental conditions, and the human ear was not not able to capture them. Researchers believe these results can open the door to a new branch of precision farming, so farms can hear thirsty crops

This capacity will receive a lot of attention, especially in the conditions of global warming that we know, which lead to severe climate change and expose more regions to drought.

In response
to the results  of animals and plants  , the researchers placed microphones at ten centimeters from the tomato and tobacco plants, which picked up ultrasonic frequencies of twenty to one hundred kilohertz. The team says insects and some mammals will be able to hear and interact with them at a distance of five meters

For example, a moth may respond to sounds like this so as not to lay eggs on a plant with water deficiency or dehydration. In addition, plants can hear the voices of other plants suffering from water deficiency and have a symbiosis with them

Interpretation of the puzzle
The study concluded that the number of sounds emitted by the plant varies according to the type of plant and the state of stress from which it suffers. Tomatoes produced 35 sounds per hour, against 11 sounds per hour for tobacco, while suffering from water deficiency 

By cutting the stems, the tomatoes emitted 25 sounds per hour, while the tobacco emitted less than one hour. Thus, it is possible to distinguish the sounds to know the state of stress of the plant

In addition to tomato and tobacco, researchers were able to capture the sounds of cacti and nettle. Researchers believe that the cavity inside the plant could be a possible explanation for the mechanism by which plants can emit these sounds

Prospects for Future Studies
This study has opened the door for more research on how plants interact with other stressful conditions such as intense salinity or severe temperature changes.

Will plants make noise when exposed to such situations? How far can insects hear these sounds? And what is the way that can prove that animals and insects have already heard these voices, and then answered them in one way or another?

This study was published on December 2nd on the “bioRxiv” website, which provides archiving and online publishing of unpublished research papers in the life sciences field.

This site is administered by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a non-profit educational organization based in the United States

Researchers can immediately publish their findings in the scientific community and receive feedback to enrich their work before sending it to approved journals