The secret code in nature: plants "talking" to each other.

The secret code in nature: plants "talking" to each other. 

Recently, I wrote that maybe plants are not intelligent. But in this moment I must say that there could be intelligences that cannot communicate with us. The fact is that plants communicate. But are they intelligent, that is the key question. Plant intelligence is one of the most interesting things in the world. Plants send information to each other. And that information involves things like what kinds of nutrients and what kinds of damage the plants get. 

When plants have enough nutrients, they send more pheromones than plants that do have not enough nutrients. Same way. If plants are sick, the fungi will start to eat that plant away. And that fungi sends other pheromones to the air. When we talk about plant intelligence, we should ask: are those things conscious? Can plants control their behavior? When pheromones impact cells. That thing makes them grow in a certain direction. The communication between plants is an interesting thing. And we are just starting to hack nature's secret code. 

"Scientists have visualized how plants communicate using volatile organic compounds (VOCs) when under threat, a phenomenon first identified in 1983. The team discovered that plants interpret these VOCs as danger signals, prompting a defensive response. Using innovative equipment and imaging techniques, they identified the specific VOCs responsible and the cells within plants that first react. Their research offers profound insights into the intricate communication mechanisms of plants and their resilience in the face of potential harm". (ScitechDaily.com/Nature’s Secret Code: How Plants “Talk” Through the Air)

Gaia hypothesis: can species communicate over species borders? 

But then we face things like the Gaia hypothesis. The Gaia hypothesis goes like this: All living creatures form the living entirety. But could that thing be intelligent? The key element in the Gaia model is this. Living creatures can communicate with each other over species borders. Things like plants and fungi form the base, the network that connects species into one entirety. You can read more about the Gaia hypothesis from Wikipedia. The link to that is below this text.  Next to this chapter is another link to that Wikipedia article. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis

And can that creature be intelligent? The answer to that question might be more complicated than we ever imagined. The fact is that we cannot consciously communicate with separated cell groups. That means we cannot order our liver to burn alcohol faster. Or we cannot order our natural immune cells to travel at certain points in our body. But we know that all our functions are not conscious or volitional. There are lots of functions in the human body that do not reach consciousness. 

We know that all species on our planet have their ecological locker. And if we bring some foreign species into nature, the results could be devastating. In this scenario, jungle snakes or other foreign species will accidentally released into Northern nature. That foreign species can destroy some other species. 

When we think about pheromones and plant communication, nothing denies that plants and mammals can communicate with each other. Using pheromones. We don't know how those pheromones interact with the mammal nervous system. But when mammal smells those things, they impact the olfactory coil. The question is how the nervous system reacts with those pheromones. The fact is that there are many things in nature, that are unknown to us. 

https://scitechdaily.com/natures-secret-code-how-plants-talk-through-the-air/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis