“Like a Horror Movie”: Caterpillar Silences Tomato’s Cry for Help, Scientists Find
Phys.org | February 25, 2021Scientists found that a caterpillar called the tomato fruit worm not only chomps on tomatoes and their leaves, but also deposits enzyme-laden saliva on the plant, interfering with its ability to cry for help.
If it all sounds a bit improbable, starting with the concept of plants crying for help, scientists also scoffed at that idea when it was first proposed a few decades ago. But it has been shown time and time again that when under attack, plants can emit chemical distress signals, causing their peers to mount some sort of defense. A classic example is the smell of a freshly mown lawn, which prompts the release of protective compounds in nearby blades of grass that have yet to be cut.
That made for a convincing case, said Chris Martine, a Bucknell University plant geneticist who was not involved in the study.
“This is incredibly cool,” he said. “I’m definitely going to teach this.”
I had heard that acacia trees signalled nearby trees that giraffes were eating before, so plants warning their neighbors of danger is not that surprising. (Though the linked article does make me wonder why the acacia don’t produce the foul-tasting tannins all the time.)
https://areenaresort.com/how-the-acacia-tree-can-outsmart-a-hungry-giraffe/
Thanks for making me look it up. Questions like that are hard for me to resist.
I couldn’t find a definitive answer, but it occurred to me that maybe the plants, or parts of them, such as fruit containing seeds, need to be non-poisonous most of the time, in order to survive. Well, it seems that acacia trees are pollinated by bees. Not only do tannins taste terrible, but they’re toxic to animals and insects.
I found a video that I saw a few years ago by a polymath named Nikolas Lloyd, better known as Lindybeige, who covered a similar question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ClQXwkkH8A
I have watched a lot of his medieval weapons videos. This one was interesting, pretty good explanation.
Also, edible fruits allow for seeds to be spread by the animals eating them. I have also heard that many trees are sprouted every year because squirrels bury nuts for safekeeping and then forget about them.
Mothra, only you can save us!
Can I help? I speak tomato. ~ Barbra Billingsley