Plants also make risky decisions

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by Plazma Inferno!, Jul 1, 2016.

  1. Plazma Inferno! Ding Ding Ding Ding Administrator

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    A team from Oxford University alongside colleagues in Isreal recently found that pea plants are able to take risks-- a characteristic previously unseen outside of the animal kingdom. A full-text version of their study was recently published in the journal Current Biology.
    The study split an individual pea plant's roots between two different pots of soil, forcing the plant to prioritize root growth. When presented with an obviously superior high-nutrition soil choice, the plant sent roots into the nutrition-rich pot, which is a similar response to animals putting forth effort into a more lucrative foraging spot.
    Researchers then split the roots into two different pots with equal average nutrition concentrations but differing nutrition levels-- one with a constant nutrition level, and one with a variable nutrition level. The researchers then created a model based on how a human or an animal would make such a decision.
    They thought the plants would prefer the variable pot when the average nutrition level was low (making a risky decision for a potential reward) and prefer the constant pot when the average nutrition level was high (staying risk-averse due to existing safety). Their predictions turned out to be correct.

    http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113414828/risk-taking-plants-063016/

    Paper: http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)30459-6
     
    Edont Knoff likes this.

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