The dynamics of plant nutation

Abstract

In this article we advance a cutting-edge methodology for the study of the dynamics of plant movements of nutation. Our approach, unlike customary kinematic analyses of shape, period, or amplitude, is based on three typical signatures of adaptively controlled processes and motions, as reported in the biological and behavioral dynamics literature: harmonicity, predictability, and complexity. We illustrate the application of a dynamical methodology to the bending movements of shoots of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) in two conditions: with and without a support to climb onto. The results herewith reported support the hypothesis that patterns of nutation are influenced by the presence of a support to climb in their vicinity. The methodology is in principle applicable to a whole range of plant movements.

Can Plants Move Like Animals? A Three-Dimensional Stereovision Analysis of Movement in Plants

“…Recently, the kinematical approach for the study of movements in plants has been disputed. Raja et al [15] criticize what they name "kinematics of nutation" approaches, supporting the thesis that kinematical patterns are blind to temporal dependencies versus what they define a "dynamical methodology" for the study of plants dynamic of nutation. Despite the term "dynamics", they do not consider a model of forces that drives the movement, as used in classical mechanics, but mostly focus on the temporal evolution of kinematic variables and the analysis of time series.…”

“…Overcoming the aforementioned interpretation, in this paper we have clarified that kinematic approaches also address the evolution of the movements of plants across time, building upon the computation and extraction of time series. Furthermore, some inherent limitations are present in the approach proposed by Raja et al [15], where the information reduction through a single-point and single-coordinate analysis do not allow an evaluation of the behavior of different plant's segments and their interrelation for the movement production. Oppositely, we show that the analysis of standard kinematics measures in a multi-point evaluation can reveal specific behavioural patterns [2].…”

“…Despite its importance as a plant physiological signature, the standard approach for circumnutation analysis still needs to be consolidated. Some studies make use of time-lapse images and adopt video processing to extract movement-related features [5,6,8,10,[12][13][14][15]. For instance, Stolarz and colleagues [16] described a structured approach for 2D plant circumnutation analysis and developed a software (i.e., Circumnutation Tracker) for the extraction of key parameters with a standard set up that includes time-lapse video acquisition of the plant from a top view of the circumnutation movement, manual harvesting of the coordinates and parameters calculation.…”

“…More recently, Raja et al [15] have proposed a minimalistic 1D approach that relies on nonlinear methods of behavioral analysis to uncover the dynamics of plant nutation. This approach focuses on the time dependencies characterizing the processes that give rise to circumnutation patterns and may help for the identification of alternative parameters than those derived from classic kinematics.…”

Root-To-Shoot Signaling for the Coding of Support Thickness in Pea Plants

“…The study of climbing plants behavior is based on Darwin's observations regarding the oscillatory movements, exploratory in nature, performed by the stem and the tendrils, which he named circumnutation [19]. Since then, a plethora of studies have investigated the underlying mechanisms that support the searching and attachment behaviors of climbing plants at the anatomical [20,21], biomechanical [22,23], physiological [13,14,[24][25][26] and cellular [27,28] levels.…”