Dec 5, 2022 09:25 PM
(This post was last modified: Dec 5, 2022 09:25 PM by C C.)
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opini...lear-70796
EXCERPTS: The vine Boquila trifoliolata is a shapeshifter. As it winds its way up trees and other flora in the Chilean rainforest, its leaves change to resemble those of the plants it uses for support or, sometimes, neighbors it isn’t in contact with. It does such a good job of pretending to be other plants that although the vine was first described in the 1800s, its talent for impersonation remained secret until only about a decade ago. In the early 2010s, Ernesto Gianoli, a plant ecologist with the University of La Serena in Chile, realized that what appeared to be a strange-looking stem from a tree was in fact a B. trifoliata vine, the leaves of which perfectly blended in with the tree’s actual leaves. Once he saw that, he spotted the vine mimicking all sorts of plants—more than 20 species so far—by tweaking the size, shape, and color of its leaves.
Gianoli reported his findings in a 2014 Current Biology paper, but to this day, no one is certain how B. trifoliolata pulls off its impressive masquerades. Gianoli initially speculated that the vines pick up something from the plants they copy—volatile chemicals, perhaps, or genetic material that helps steer their leaves’ growth. Most recently, he discovered microbiome similarities between the mimicking vines and their models, hinting that bacteria could be involved. But in a paper published online last year in Plant Signaling and Behavior, citizen scientist Jacob White and University of Bonn graduate student Felipe Yamashita claim to have found evidence for a different hypothesis: that the vines can “see” other plants’ leaves, at least well enough to copy their looks.
[...] Experts who spoke with The Scientist about the research similarly raised red flags about the study itself and had pointed questions about the publication process. Meanwhile, the study’s authors and handling editor stand by the paper, although they say it was never meant to be the final word on either plant vision or B. trifoliolata’s mimicry.
The one thing everyone agrees on is that these vines are remarkable—and that understanding how they perform their impersonations will change our understanding of how plants work...
[...] White, a homemaker in Utah with a passion for science and plants but with no formal scientific training, says he got the idea for the study after reading about the eye-spots of Chlamydomonas algae and the lens-like cells of certain cyanobacteria. He says he wondered if a similar sort of rudimentary vision might be common to all plants. That’s when he came across a 2016 mini-review by University of Bonn plant physiologist František Baluška and University of Florence plant neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso suggesting that plants have eye-like structures that afford them a form of vision... (MORE - missing details)
https://youtu.be/cfB0DwquYHg
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/cfB0DwquYHg
EXCERPTS: The vine Boquila trifoliolata is a shapeshifter. As it winds its way up trees and other flora in the Chilean rainforest, its leaves change to resemble those of the plants it uses for support or, sometimes, neighbors it isn’t in contact with. It does such a good job of pretending to be other plants that although the vine was first described in the 1800s, its talent for impersonation remained secret until only about a decade ago. In the early 2010s, Ernesto Gianoli, a plant ecologist with the University of La Serena in Chile, realized that what appeared to be a strange-looking stem from a tree was in fact a B. trifoliata vine, the leaves of which perfectly blended in with the tree’s actual leaves. Once he saw that, he spotted the vine mimicking all sorts of plants—more than 20 species so far—by tweaking the size, shape, and color of its leaves.
Gianoli reported his findings in a 2014 Current Biology paper, but to this day, no one is certain how B. trifoliolata pulls off its impressive masquerades. Gianoli initially speculated that the vines pick up something from the plants they copy—volatile chemicals, perhaps, or genetic material that helps steer their leaves’ growth. Most recently, he discovered microbiome similarities between the mimicking vines and their models, hinting that bacteria could be involved. But in a paper published online last year in Plant Signaling and Behavior, citizen scientist Jacob White and University of Bonn graduate student Felipe Yamashita claim to have found evidence for a different hypothesis: that the vines can “see” other plants’ leaves, at least well enough to copy their looks.
[...] Experts who spoke with The Scientist about the research similarly raised red flags about the study itself and had pointed questions about the publication process. Meanwhile, the study’s authors and handling editor stand by the paper, although they say it was never meant to be the final word on either plant vision or B. trifoliolata’s mimicry.
The one thing everyone agrees on is that these vines are remarkable—and that understanding how they perform their impersonations will change our understanding of how plants work...
[...] White, a homemaker in Utah with a passion for science and plants but with no formal scientific training, says he got the idea for the study after reading about the eye-spots of Chlamydomonas algae and the lens-like cells of certain cyanobacteria. He says he wondered if a similar sort of rudimentary vision might be common to all plants. That’s when he came across a 2016 mini-review by University of Bonn plant physiologist František Baluška and University of Florence plant neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso suggesting that plants have eye-like structures that afford them a form of vision... (MORE - missing details)
https://youtu.be/cfB0DwquYHg
