Plants can adapt and remember

CIENTISTS have found that plants can learn and remember – even though they do not have a brain.

Researchers claim fern-like plants that respond to touch have learnt that water droplets are not harmful and remember the finding weeks afterwards.

The researchers studied Mimosa pudica, which folds inwards when touched to protect itself from predators. The University of Western Australia study found the action is not simply a reflex.

They examined the species’ short- and long-term memories under high and low light environments by repeatedly dropping water on the plants. The plant stopped curling up once it learned the water was no threat to its survival and no damage was done, according to the study, published in the journal Oecologia.

Mimosa plants learnt the behaviour in a matter of seconds and learning was faster in low light.

“Most remarkably, these plants were able to remember what had been learnt for several weeks, even after environmental conditions had changed,” the researchers said.

While the scientists are unsure how the plant learns and remembers, they think it might be down to a calcium-based signalling network in its cells.

The research radically changes the way humans perceive plants and the boundaries between plants and animals, including our definition of learning as a property special to organisms with a nervous system, the scientists said. – Daily Mail

S