Plant Bioacoustics Essay PDF

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understanding plant bioacoustics and how plants respond to sound...

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Stacey Charlot Biomedical Sciences: Medical and Veterinary Services Bio 412 Dr. Subhash Minocha Essay #1 8 March 2021

Plant Bioacoustics The scholarly article Bearing Fruit: Plant Bioacoustics is Blossoming written by Aaron M. Thode, discusses and entails how sound is an example of a tropism that plants react to. Plants have such flexibility due to the vital function of their stems. Plant stems are photosynthetic, store materials such as; starch,sugar,and water, and are a foundation of support.The leaves of plants provide them the means to adapt to different variations of climate while also working to collect maximum light. Thus, plants have the ability to not only respond to the frequencies within their environment, but as well as having the competence to distinguish variations of acoustic vibrations.Tropisms are the growth of a plant toward or away from a stimulus which can also include phototropism, thigmotropism, and gravitropism. Ecologists have defined this propensity of plants known to be plant bioacoustics. In an experiment, researchers played tracks where plants were present, and found that plants have communication pathways they use with each other. The capability in doing this was noted when experimenters were able to block the signals that plants use through contact. Additionally, plants use their communication pathways as another method to sense their surroundings and identify their neighbors. Future applications of this study that are addressed and recognised in this article is how sound can be used to promote growth, germination, and development of plants. While plants are able to react to sounds, they can also “transit and reflect animal sounds” (Thode 4). This phenomenon was learned during a study back in 1933. Acoustic emission experiments were conducted by “recording sounds made by a piece of wood under bending stress” (Thode 4). Researchers were able to probe the physiology of plants. Another significant bioacoustic study that took place is Milburn and Johnson in 1966. The experimenters learned how a plant's physiology can affect how they react to stimuli. A critical observation that was made was that when plants suffer from dehydration they have the ability to ultrasonic cavitation sounds. These ultrasonic sounds produce signals that can reach frequencies of 100 to 200 kHz. Similarly, Monica Gagliano, another researcher, observed how playing 200-Hz playback tones stimulated bean sprout roots to grow tremendously. Gagliano and her colleagues also discovered that depending on what or how a sound was played, plants were not able to distinguish the difference. Yet, there was a preference to each sound which was demonstrated by their growth rate. The experiments and entirety of this article supports the objective that plants can interpret sound, release sound, and grow by listening to sound.

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Bibliography Thode, A. M., & Gagliano, M. (2019, Winter). Bearing Fruit: Plant Bioacoustics is Blossoming. Marine Physical Laboratory, 15(4), 8. https://acousticstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Bearing-Fruit-Plant-Bioacoustics-is-Bloss oming-Aaron-M.-Thode.pdf...