Trees are sentient and evolving, one species utilize electric strikes on enemies

[Leasy]

How this is not a big deal is crazy to me:

Tonka bean trees survive lightning strikes — and use the powerful electric shocks to kill their competitors.

Researchers observed that Dipteryx oleifera—also called the tonka bean tree—in Panama's Barro Colorado natural area not only survives direct lightning strikes but appears to exploit them to eliminate competitors and parasites

Lightning is usually seen as a harbinger of destruction in forests, killing or damaging trees in their blasts. But in the lowland rainforests of Panama, one species of towering tropical tree may have evolved to use this force of nature to its advantage.

The tonka bean tree (Dipteryx oleifera) may actually benefit from being struck by lightning, according to a new study.

Scientists discovered that these trees not only survive these electrical encounters unscathed, but the lightning damages its competitors and the parasitic vines that cling to the tonka bean trees. The researchers published their findings March 26 in the journal New Phytologist.

Researchers tracked lightning strikes over a decade in Panama’s Barro Colorado forest and found that Dipteryx oleifera trees not only survive direct hits but actually use lightning to eliminate vines and nearby competitors—on average removing 78% of parasitic vines and ~2.4 tons of surrounding biomass per strike. Their tall structure funnels lightning off themselves and into others, boosting seed production approximately 14‑fold over their lifetime.


Takeaway: This is the first documented example of a plant species evolving to benefit from lightning, significantly influencing forest competition and ecological dynamics—especially as lightning becomes more frequent with climate change.

 

[Diunx]

Vegans right now

 

[Luke Cage]

Vegans advocating killing these innocent creatures. so immoral

 

[Address_Unknown]

So this the real reason the maples formed that union?​

 

[Vandelay]

I heard the story about plants screaming and felt pain a few years back. World is officially stranger than fiction these days.

 

[Luke Cage]

@Groot

 

[Groot]

@Groot

I am Groot!

 

[east]

Trees are sentient and evolving

i own this plant called boquila, it's a boring looking vine until you place it next to something else

it'll turn to "look" towards its neighbor, then start transforming its own appearance to match it

nobody knows how it does this, it was thought that it might be using horizontal gene transfer, or somehow smelling or speaking with its hosts
then it was discovered that they also mimic fake plants

in these pics, V is the boquila and T is the tree it's copying

 

[Human Torch]

Huh What? GIF - Huh - Discover & Share GIFs

Click to view the GIF

tenor.com

 

[Human Torch]

Double

 

[BaileyPark31]

Maan.... I knew plants know more than we think. I always say kind words to our 2 cherry blossom trees outside. Im pretty sure they appreciate it.

 

[Uchiha God]

i own this plant called boquila, it's a boring looking vine until you place it next to something else

it'll turn to "look" towards its neighbor, then start transforming its own appearance to match it

nobody knows how it does this, it was thought that it might be using horizontal gene transfer, or somehow smelling or speaking with its hosts
then it was discovered that they also mimic fake plants

Boquila trifoliolata is the only known plant species reported to engage in mimetic polymorphism, or the ability to mimic multiple host species, often simultaneously. This is a form of Batesian mimicry, when a harmless species mimics a harmful one to ward off predators. Contact between the vines and host trees was reported not to be necessary for mimicking to commence. However, after a decade of the original study describing the species mimicry capabilities in 2014, no independent research groups have verified the field observations and the mechanism by which this mimicry would occur is still unknown. Hypotheses about the mimicry mechanism include microbial mediated horizontal gene transfer, volatile organic compound sensing, and the use of eye-like structures.

 

[Pistolvania Prince]

Now it makes sense why plants that are loved on & listen to music grow better

 

[CodeKansas]

Oh, word?

 

[010101]

supposed to eat what is given in its due season*