Plants, climate and humans

Baluška, Frantǐsek; Mancuso, Stefano

doi:10.15252/embr.202050109

Cited by 46 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…These are not idle concerns. Articles that promote plant neurobiology thinking are increasingly finding their way into respectable scientific journals-even top-tier journals (Calvo and Friston 2017;Tang and Marshall 2018;Baluška and Manusco 2020;. This is most regrettable, and hopefully our article, by putting the record straight, will reverse this trend.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Moreover, signaling between plants was taken as evidence that they distinguish between self and alien; i.e., for self-recognition (Trewavas 2017). Collective behavior of plant communities has, consequently, been interpreted as cooperative behavior indicating social cognition, intelligence, and thought (Karban 2008;Baluška and Manusco 2020).…”

Section: Claim 8: Plants Show Classical Associative Learning Which Imentioning

confidence: 99%

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Debunking a myth: plant consciousness

et al. 2020

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Claims that plants have conscious experiences have increased in recent years and have received wide coverage, from the popular media to scientific journals. Such claims are misleading and have the potential to misdirect funding and governmental policy decisions. After defining basic, primary consciousness, we provide new arguments against 12 core claims made by the proponents of plant consciousness. Three important new conclusions of our study are (1) plants have not been shown to perform the proactive, anticipatory behaviors associated with consciousness, but only to sense and follow stimulus trails reactively; (2) electrophysiological signaling in plants serves immediate physiological functions rather than integrative-information processing as in nervous systems of animals, giving no indication of plant consciousness; (3) the controversial claim of classical Pavlovian learning in plants, even if correct, is irrelevant because this type of learning does not require consciousness. Finally, we present our own hypothesis, based on two logical assumptions, concerning which organisms possess consciousness. Our first assumption is that affective (emotional) consciousness is marked by an advanced capacity for operant learning about rewards and punishments. Our second assumption is that image-based conscious experience is marked by demonstrably mapped representations of the external environment within the body. Certain animals fit both of these criteria, but plants fit neither. We conclude that claims for plant consciousness are highly speculative and lack sound scientific support.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Claim 8: Plants Show Classical Associative Learning Which Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Debunking a myth: plant consciousness

et al. 2020

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“…Plants are extremely efficient not only in using CO 2 (only present in the air at below 400 ppm) to build tens-meter-high trees but also in investing a huge amount of freshly assimilated carbon into volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are released back into the atmosphere [13]. For example, trees annually produce 500 Gt of isoprene along with several other classes of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and other VOCs [14]. It is known that VOC emission is not a mere waste of assimilated carbon, but the release of VOCs into the environment regulates key ecological functions such as attracting pollinators, scavenging of reactive oxygen species, inducing plant defense against herbivores and pathogens [13,[15][16][17], and mediating intraspecific inter-plant communication [16].…”

Section: Airborne Plant-plant Communication Triggered By Abiotic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Airborne signals and abiotic factors: the neglected side of the plant communication

Landi

2020

Communicative & Integrative Biology

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A relevant number of reports have examined the role of airborne signals in plant-plant communication, indicating that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can prime neighboring plants against pathogen and/or herbivore attacks. Conversely, there is very limited information available on the possibility of the emission of VOCs by emitter plants under abiotic stress conditions, which may alert neighboring unstressed plants and prime these individuals (receivers) against the same stressors. The present opinion paper briefly reviews a few reports examining the effect of infochemicals produced by emitters on receiver plants subjected to abiotic stresses typical of global climate change. The ecological implications of these dynamics, as well as some concerns related to the potential roles of inter-plant communication in environmentally controlled experiments, have arisen. Some possible inter-plant communications applications (biomonitoring and biostimulation), mediated by airborne signals, and some directions for future studies on this topic, are also provided.

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“…This follows from Darwinian evolution, in which all organisms, extinct and current, are part of the same evolutionary systems and utilise the same biological life principles. Of course, there are significant differences in these fundamental attributes between different types of organisms, but organism-specific versions are present in all organisms (Bernard 1878 ; Baluška and Mancuso 2009 , 2020a , b ; Baluška and Levin 2016 ; Linson and Calvo 2020 ; Reber and Baluška 2020 ). If we continue to maintain a Darwinian evolutionary position (Eisenstein et al 2016 ), we must expect that all organisms rely on these faculties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anaesthetics and plants: from sensory systems to cognition-based adaptive behaviour

Baluška

Yokawa

2021

Protoplasma

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Plants are not only sensitive to exogenous anaesthetics, but they also produce multitudes of endogenous substances, especially when stressed, that often have anaesthetic and anelgesic properties when applied to both humans and animals. Moreover, plants rely on neurotransmitters and their receptors for cell-cell communication and integration in a similar fashion to the use of neural systems in animals and humans. Plants also use their plant-specific sensory systems and neurotransmitter-based communication, including long-distance action potentials, to manage stress via cognition-like plant-specific behaviour and adaptation.

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Plants, climate and humans

Abstract: Plants play a more active role in shaping their environment than most climate models assume. Understanding their specific behavior could have profound impact on predicting future climate changes.

Cited by 46 publications

References 4 publications

Debunking a myth: plant consciousness

Debunking a myth: plant consciousness

Airborne signals and abiotic factors: the neglected side of the plant communication

Anaesthetics and plants: from sensory systems to cognition-based adaptive behaviour

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