Researchers Have Found That Plants Know They Are Being Eaten

[letsrewindit]

Vegetarians and vegans pay heed: New research shows plants know when they're being eaten. And they don't like it.

 

That plants possess an intelligence is not new knowledge, but according to Modern Farmer, a new study from the University of Missouri shows plants can sense when they are being eaten and send out defense mechanisms to try to stop it from happening.

 

The study was carried out on thale cress, or Arabidopsis as it's known scientifically, which is closely related to broccoli, kale, mustard greens, and other siblings of the brassica family and is popular for science experiments. It is commonly used in experiments because it was the first plant to have its genome sequenced, and scientists are intimately familiar with how it works.

 

Going forward with the question of whether a plant knows it's being eaten, the University of Missouri researchers first took a precise audio recording of the vibrations a caterpillar makes as it eats the thale cress leaves, with the working theory that plants could feel or hear the vibrations in some way.

 

The researchers controlled the experiment by coming up with other vibrations that simulated other natural vibrations like wind noise that the plant might encounter.

 

The results? According to Modern Farmer, the thale cress produces mustard oils that are mildly toxic when eaten and sends them throughout its leaves to try to keep the predators away. The research also revealed that when the plants felt or heard "munching vibrations" from the caterpillar, they sent out extra mustard oils. But the plants didn't react when other vibrations were present.

 

"Previous research has investigated how plants respond to acoustic energy, including music," said Heidi Appel, senior research scientist in the Division of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and the Bond Life Sciences Center at MU.

 

"However, our work is the first example of how plants respond to an ecologically relevant vibration. We found that feeding vibrations signal changes in the plant cells' metabolism, creating more defensive chemicals that can repel attacks from caterpillars."

[Sorok]

plants have sentience :o

 

vegans are shook xD

[125628]

woah, that's pretty freaky to think about

[pururin]

this has nothing to do with vegetarians/vegans and to make it so will only shift the focus from this discovery. welp maybe that's the point !

[al qaeda]

That's actually pretty scary.

[charaught]

Interesting

 

[Kaitoh]

Vegans destroyed

[fartsniffer]

This is just a natural self defense mechanism, plants do not feel/emote

[Daria~]

The fact that they sense vibrations doesn’t necessarily mean that they can feel the pain of being eaten. Of course, all living organisms can perceive danger in one way or the other and react to it the best way they can but that doesn’t mean the plants can actually “feelâ€.

[teal]

[Guest]

no shit sherlock. every living thing has some kind of consciousness.

but do you really think you can put animals in the same bag with plants, for example in regard how they are feeling pain?   

also when you are vegan/vegetarian, you often eat the part with seeds, which the plant wants you to eat because it wants to spread its seeds. 

 

nice try. 

[PeachyKeys!]

I mean, who's out here chomping kale directly from the ground?

[Brittany]

You mean organisms can sense when they are degenerating? Duh. Yet another article sensationalized by introduction thereof as "when they are being eaten". No need to focus on one to create your image, it's degenerarion in general. Plants can also feel positivity and feel alive for water.

[Green Willow]

old news, FF taught us way before this.

 

 

 

5:04

[chcft34]

... I was taught this in middle school and that was more than a decade ago.

[Mark Lee]

Triggered vegans will go full-sjws on this article.

[CrayCray]

 

I'm quite surprised

[taro]

Would you rather cause pain to a plant or to an animal??

[Lilies]

That's so creepy.

[frozentear]

I've learned this a long time ago, but every time I hear about it, I still find it very intriguing.

[Gj gf jfdhsvsb]

Stimuli -> Response

[Vtzu]

InB4 SJWs start a movement to start eating air lmao