- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
This is a meeting of the Davis Botanical Society, which begins at 6:45 p.m. President Marie Jasieniuk will announce the 2014 student grant recipients and the members will elect new officers. All interested persons are invited. The library is located at 315 E. 14th St.
Karban will discuss the rarely studied phenomenon of communication between plants, announced plant taxonomist Ellen Dean, curator, Center for Plant Diversity. "For a number of years, Dr. Karban has been studying plant-to-plant communication in big sagebrush (Artemisa tridentata) at Sagehen Creek in the Sierrra Nevada. His research has shown that volatile compounds are released from injured plants and that these compounds are detected by nearby plants, allowing them to better defend themselves against herbivores and other predators."
Excerpts from a news release published Feb. 13, 2013 by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology:
If you're a sagebrush and your nearby kin is being eaten by a grasshopper, deer, jackrabbit, caterpillar or other predator, it's good to be closely related. Through volatile (chemical) cues, your kin will inform you of the danger so you can adjust your defenses.
If you're not closely related, communication won't be as effective.
Newly published research in today's Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences shows that kin have distinct advantages when it comes to plant communication, just as “the ability of many animals to recognize kin has allowed them to evolve diverse cooperative behaviors,” says lead researcher and ecologist Richard Karban, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
For example, fire ants can recognize kin. “Ants will destroy queens that are not relatives but protect those who are,” Karban said.
That ability is less well studied for plants, until now.
“When sagebrush plants are damaged by their herbivores, they emit volatiles that cause their neighbors to adjust their defenses,” Karban said. “These adjustments reduce rates of damage and increase growth and survival of the neighbors.” See more.
