Plant Sensing and CommunicationThe news that a flowering weed—mousear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana)—can sense the particular chewing noise of its most common caterpillar predator and adjust its chemical defenses in response led to headlines announcing the discovery of the first “hearing” plant. As plants lack central nervous systems (and, indeed, ears), the mechanisms behind this “hearing” are unquestionably very different from those of our own acoustic sense, but the misleading headlines point to an overlooked truth: plants do in fact perceive environmental cues and respond rapidly to them by changing their chemical, morphological, and behavioral traits. In Plant Sensing and Communication, Richard Karban provides the first comprehensive overview of what is known about how plants perceive their environments, communicate those perceptions, and learn. Facing many of the same challenges as animals, plants have developed many similar capabilities: they sense light, chemicals, mechanical stimulation, temperature, electricity, and sound. Moreover, prior experiences have lasting impacts on sensitivity and response to cues; plants, in essence, have memory. Nor are their senses limited to the processes of an individual plant: plants eavesdrop on the cues and behaviors of neighbors and—for example, through flowers and fruits—exchange information with other types of organisms. Far from inanimate organisms limited by their stationary existence, plants, this book makes unquestionably clear, are in constant and lively discourse. |
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Contents
| 1 | |
2 Plant Sensory Capabilities | 9 |
3 Plant Learning and Memory | 31 |
4 Cues and Signals in Plant Communication | 45 |
5 Plant Responses to Cues about Resources | 67 |
6 Plant Responses to Herbivory | 83 |
7 Plant Communication and Reproduction | 109 |
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acid Agrawal animals Annual Review anthocyanins ants Arabidopsis Arabidopsis thaliana associated attack attract auxin bacteria behavior Biology Ca2+ caterpillars caused cells color compounds correlated cues and signals damage dispersal effective elicitors emissions emitted environmental environments ethylene Evolution evolutionary example experimentally extrafloral favor floral fruits functions fungi genes genetic growth herbivore-induced herbivores host increase individual induced resistance induced responses insects interactions involved jasmonate jasmonic acid Journal Karban kinases leaf leaves light mechanisms methyl jasmonate microbes mites mycorrhizal National Academy nectar nectar guides neighbors nutrients Oecologia organs parasites parasitoids pathogens perceive phenotypic phytochrome Pierik plant defense plant fitness Plant Physiology plant responses plant volatiles plants sense plasma membrane pollen tube pollinators potential predators produced proteins receptors rewardless flowers rewards rhizobia roots salicylic salicylic acid seeds shade avoidance shade avoidance responses species stress systemic systemic acquired resistance terpenoids tion tissues tomato traits trees trichomes visitors volatile communication volatile cues
Bibliographic information
| Title | Plant Sensing and Communication Interspecific Interactions |
| Author | Richard Karban |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press, 2015 |
| ISBN | 022626484X, 9780226264844 |
| Length | 240 pages |
| Subjects | › › Science / General Science / Life Sciences / Botany |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |