Plant Altruism
A growing body of research supports the idea that plants provide a helping hand (so to speak) to other plants. The research is summarized in an article in the January online issue of Science magazine.
I was introduced to the idea that plants cooperate with each other by the excellent book The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. Wohlleben describes a sort of arboreal social security system utilizing underground fungal networks, through which trees redistribute resources and provide for mutual defense.
Where Wohlleben portrays trees of the same species as having a communal life, the research described in the Science article focuses on how closely related herbaceous plants provide mutual assistance. But both portray plants as more aware and active than previously thought in terms of how they relate to each other and their environment.
For example, annual sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) space their leaves so as not to shade nearby relatives. Drawing from this insight, researchers found that they could plant sunflowers that are close kin much more densely than is normal in commercial agriculture. These dense plantings produced 47% more oil from the resulting seeds.
Other research has found that plants will restrain their root growth in order to make space for their close relatives, and that they may stimulate their kin to launch a stronger chemical defense against herbivores.
One question not answered in the article is what constitutes “close kin” within the context of a plant species.
In any case, I like this line of research because it makes plants appear to be more engaged with the world, more mysterious, and more interesting. It also provides a portrait of the natural world in which cooperation and mutual aid provide a counterweight to the struggle of all against all. Anyhow, read the article and see what you think.
gardeninacity 
Plants lead fascinating lives that go unappreciated.
At least we are gradually coming to understand them better.
Reblogged this on Arthur in the Garden..
What an interesting coincidence! I just posted a piece that mentions nurse trees. Loved this.
Nurse trees sounds like an interesting topic – don’t know much about them.
Incidentally, I tried to find your post but couldn’t locate your blog.
Oh. I thought it might be rude to put in an actual plug but if you are interested here is a link: http://animamonday.wordpress.com/2019/01/21/urban-power-spots-austins-treaty-oak/ Some have said that the mother tree might not have survived the poisoning without assistance from its clone.
Without a little self-promotion, we would not have social media as we know it today!
I heard Peter Wohlleben speaking about his book, The Hidden life of Trees last year. It is fascinating & going on this research your last paragraph summarises exactly how I feel about plants too. I enjoyed your post.
I’d love to have a chance to hear Wohlleben speak.
Yes He spoke with clarity.. humble too
What in interesting topic. I have never written about it. I sometimes write about how violent some plants are to those that they compete with; particularly how some Californian plants burn hot enough to incinerate the seed of the competition, while theirs are safe in well insulated fruiting structures, or in the ground.
I never thought about plants being violent, but come to think of it, they do engage in chemical warfare!
Redwoods, cypress and some pines excel at chemical warfare.
And don’t forget Black Walnut!
Oh yes, them too!
Sounds like a very interesting article. I just received some ‘Italian White’ sunflower seeds in the mail and will be planting them for the first time in the spring. They look gorgeous! Can’t wait to grow them.
They are beautiful and are multi-branched so they have lots of flowers.
Nice post! There are a few other good books on the subject, including What a Plant Knows, that you might like. That book dives more into how plants “see” and “feel.”
Actually, I have read that one also. Fascinating stuff! Incidentally, I tried to follow the link to your blog but it didn’t work.
A fascinating idea. I have honey fungus all round my garden, I like to imagine my apple trees and roses all shouting to each other: ‘Hey watch out, its coming close to you. Behind you! Now to the left, whoops, I’ll see if I can head it off!’
What if they spend much of their time gossiping and complaining about the gardener and the gardener’s family?
Fascinating. Iād read about the trees which made lots of sense but this goes to another level. Thanks for writing about it.
I wonder if trees have more complex behavior than perennials because on average they are longer-lived?
That would make sense.
I’d heard about the trees’ interactions, and read a bit about it, but this takes it a step further. The article in Science was fascinating, and a reminder of how little we know. The research certainly casts “Little Shop of Horrors” in a different light.
I knew I’d read something related in the essays of poet Mary Oliver. Here it is:
“Understand from the first this certainty. Butterflies donāt write books, neither do lilies or violets. Which doesnāt mean they donāt know, in their own way, what they are. That they donāt know they are aliveāthat they donāt feel, that action upon which all consciousness sits, lightly or heavily. Humility is the prize of the leaf-world. Vainglory is the bane of us, the humans.”
I read the obituary of Mary Oliver at end of last week. She was so attuned to the natural world.
Mary always knows how to explain things so you can understand it.
Yes, I suppose plants are humble. Being unable to lie is one advantage of not having any vocal chords.
I think “Little Shop of Horrors” involved quite a lot of inter-species externalizing.
Maybe something else people can learn from plants.
If we could do that we would arguably be much better off.
I’m with all the others. Fascinating, and the research indicates how little we know about the natural world. But we are learning…albeit slowly.
We make lots of assumptions about the natural world that are rooted in profound ignorance, don’t we? But we seem to be gaining in understanding.
Sure do!
Interesting post. (The āItalian Whiteā sunflower looks gorgeous.)
It is! Try planting some in a sunny spot!
I enjoyed “The Hidden Life of Trees” and will read your recommendation. Great post!
Thanks!
Have you read the recent discovery that plants have ears? Apparently, the flowers are the ears and they can hear the bees/butterflies/beneficial insects and accordingly they increase/decrease pollen production. I truly feel sad in killing any weed.
No, I have not read about that! Plants continue to amaze us!
As it takes a village in human life it takes a garden in a plants life.
Or a forest, or a meadow …
Fascinating
Definitely!
Wow. So interesting. Why can’t we be more like plants?
An excellent question.
This is a fascinating topic! I have read that plants can even help unrelated species. For example, if a corn plant is attacked by a harmful insect, it can send out warnings to other nearby plants, including squash and bean plants ! Also, artificial insecticides can interfere with a plant’s natural defenses, making the plant more susceptible and dependent on the artificial chemicals. Definitely more research is needed.
So much more to learn. I had not heard of the inter-species relationship.
This is a fascinating topic. I read The Hidden Life of Trees. I am glad that some responses have “quotes” around words like seeing, hearing, feeling and “consciousness.” We seem restricted to anthropomorphic words to explain what research is showing. If a plant can sense sound waves do they have “ears”? Do they “hear.” And so on for seeing, feeling, communicating and consciousness. What’s next? Plants “tasting” the feet of butterflies with their “mouths”? If plants are “conscious” and more, if they are “self-conscious” what in the world will we eat?
Well, chickens are conscious but we eat chickens. I do, anyway. There’s a book called “What a plant knows” that explores how a plant has senses that approximate the senses of animals (though hearing is one sense they completely lack). Emphasis is on “approximate” though, because lacking brains and central nervous systems, it does not appear that plants have the same kind of awareness as people and animals.
I think it will take many more years if not centuries to learn all there is to know about plants, and yet we still destroy them by the thousands.
Sad but true.
Yes, the research is fascinating. And that ‘Italian White’ Helianthus is stunning!
My favorite sunflower, I think.
Interesting research, Jason. I’ve never heard about.
Thanks for the link – just read the article and find it fascinating. There is so much we still don’t know and I hope we will get more answers to such questions within my lifetime!
Same here. Of course, our knowledge expands much faster than our wisdom.
What an interesting article. As you pointed out they reference “kin” and “related” plants but don’t define what this means…inquiring minds want to know!
Yes, and do they have family reunions? Do they get into arguments about who will host for the holidays?
Fascinating…I often say “this plant is a cousin to this other plant” when I have no idea what the kinship truly is!
How fascinating! I’m sure plants are far more complex than we could imagine.xxx
They don’t just sit there looking pretty.
Hello Jason, I wonder if natives plants get on better with each other than say a native and an exotic put together, or two exotics from completely different parts of the globe. Given the density of planting I have in the borders and the way the shrubs and plants are mingling with each other, I’d say they’re all getting on a little bit too well from how they’re growing well beyond the “ultimate” height and spread on the label.
I like to see plants mingling happily, not sure I have ever sen them getting on too well.
Peter Wohlleben’s book makes you stand back and take a new look at trees and at our view of living things. I was taken by his apparent love of nature and his sense of joy in living organisms. I have a short review on my blog Aergia’s Daughter.
Yes, his love of the subject really comes through.
I LOVED this book. I feel its required reading for everyone.
I do like to joke about what the vegans will eat when trees and plants are considered ‘sentient beings’ š
I loved this book also. Probably my favorite science book of all time.