Stefano Mancuso is a 45-year-old man who was born in the south of Florence in Italy, is an agronomist, doctorate in biophysics and professor at the University of Florence. This man is also a pioneer in the study of plant neurobiology and his studies have discovered fascinating things that many of us probably ignore. In an interview conducted by the vanguard, Mancuso not only assured that plants " have neurons, they are intelligent beings" but also revealed a series of characteristics that will probably make you see these organisms with different eyes.
" Plants are intelligent organisms, but they move and make decisions in a longer time than that of man, " said Mancuso, who also said that plants recognize other members of their family and behave in a totally different way if their side there are relatives or there are strangers. “If they are relatives, they do not compete: through the roots they divide the territory in an equitable way, ” explains the doctor in Biophysics.
This is an excerpt from the interview:
Can a tree voluntarily send sap to a small plant?
Yes. Plants require light to live, and for a seed to reach the light many years must pass; Meanwhile, they are nourished by trees of the same species.
Curious.
Parental care is only given in highly evolved animals and it is incredible that they occur in plants.
Then, they communicate.
Yes, in a jungle all plants are in underground communication through the roots. And they also manufacture volatile molecules that warn distant plants about what is happening.
For example?
When a plant is attacked by a pathogen, it immediately produces volatile molecules that can travel kilometers, and warn all others to prepare their defenses.
What do you defend?
They produce chemical molecules that make them indigestible, and can be very aggressive. Ten years ago, in Botswana they introduced 200, 000 antelopes in a large park, which began to eat acacias with intensity. After a few weeks many died and after six months more than 10, 000 died, and did not notice why. Today we know it was the plants.
Too much predation.
Yes, and the plants increased to such an extent the concentration of tannins in their leaves, which became a poison.
Are plants also empathic with other beings?
It's hard to say, but there is one sure thing: plants can manipulate animals. During pollination they produce nectar and other substances to attract insects. Orchids produce flowers that are very similar to the females of some insects, which, deceived, come to them. And there are those who affirm that even the human being is manipulated by plants.
All drugs used by man (coffee, tobacco, opium, marijuana ...) are derived from plants, but why do plants produce a substance that makes humans dependent? Because that's how we spread them. The plants use man as transport. There is research on it.
Amazing .
If tomorrow the plants of the planet disappeared, in a month all life would be extinguished because there would be no food or oxygen. All the oxigen we breathe comes from them. But if we disappeared, nothing would happen. We are dependent on plants, but plants are not ours. Who is dependent is in a lower situation, right?
Plants are much more sensitive. When something changes in the environment, as they cannot escape, they must be able to feel any minimal change to adapt well in advance.
And how do they perceive?
Each root tip is able to continuously perceive at the same time at least fifteen different physical and chemical parameters (temperature, light, gravity, presence of nutrients, oxygen).
It is a great discovery, and it is yours.
At each end of the roots there are cells similar to our neurons and their function is the same: to communicate signals by electrical impulses, just like our brain. In a plant there can be millions of root tips, each with its small community of cells; and they work online like internet.
He has found the plant brain.
Yes, Your calculating zone. The question is how to measure your intelligence. But we are sure of one thing: they are very intelligent, their power to solve problems, to adapt, is great. Today on the planet 99.6% of all that is alive are plants. ... And we only know 10%.
And in that percentage we have all our food and medicine. What will be in the remaining 90%? Daily, hundreds of unknown plant species become extinct. Perhaps they possessed the ability of an important cure, we will never know. We must protect the plants for our survival.
What excites you about plants ?
Some behaviors are very exciting. All plants sleep, wake up, seek light with their leaves; They have an activity similar to that of animals. Filmed the growth of some sunflowers, and it is clear how they play with each other.
Play ?
Yes, they establish the typical behavior of the game that is seen in so many animals. We took one of those little plants and made it grow by itself. As an adult I had trouble buying. Seeing these things is exciting.
By Romina Bevilacqua
Seen in : The vanguard
Stefano Mancuso: Plants have neurons and are intelligent beings
