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Flowers respond to pollinator sound within minutes by increasing nectar sugar concentration

Marine Veits, Itzhak Khait, Uri Obolski, Eyal Zinger, Arjan Boonman, Aya Goldshtein, Kfir Saban, Udi Ben-Dor, Paz Estlein, Areej Kabat, Dor Peretz, Ittai Ratzersdorfer, Slava Krylov, Daniel Chamovitz, Yuval Sapir, Yossi Yovel, Lilach Hadany
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/507319
Marine Veits
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Itzhak Khait
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Uri Obolski
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Eyal Zinger
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Arjan Boonman
2School of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Aya Goldshtein
2School of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Kfir Saban
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Udi Ben-Dor
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Paz Estlein
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Areej Kabat
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Dor Peretz
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Ittai Ratzersdorfer
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Slava Krylov
3School of Mechanical Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Daniel Chamovitz
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Yuval Sapir
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Yossi Yovel
2School of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Lilach Hadany
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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  • For correspondence: Lilach.hadany@gmail.com
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Abstract

Can plants hear? That is, can they sense airborne sounds and respond to them? Here we show that Oenothera drummondii flowers, exposed to the playback sound of a flying bee or to synthetic sound-signals at similar frequencies, produced sweeter nectar within 3 minutes, potentially increasing the chances of cross pollination. We found that the flowers vibrated mechanically in response to these sounds, suggesting a plausible mechanism where the flower serves as the plant’s auditory sensory organ. Both the vibration and the nectar response were frequency-specific: the flowers responded to pollinator sounds, but not to higher frequency sound. Our results document for the first time that plants can rapidly respond to pollinator sounds in an ecologically relevant way. Sensitivity of plants to pollinator sound can affect plant-pollinator interactions in a wide range of ways: Plants could allocate their resources more adequately, focusing on the time of pollinator activity; pollinators would then be better rewarded per time unit; flower shape may be selected for its effect on hearing ability, and not only on signaling; and pollinators may evolve to make sounds that the flowers can hear. Finally, our results suggest that plants may be affected by other sounds as well, including antropogenic ones.

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Posted December 28, 2018.
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Flowers respond to pollinator sound within minutes by increasing nectar sugar concentration
Marine Veits, Itzhak Khait, Uri Obolski, Eyal Zinger, Arjan Boonman, Aya Goldshtein, Kfir Saban, Udi Ben-Dor, Paz Estlein, Areej Kabat, Dor Peretz, Ittai Ratzersdorfer, Slava Krylov, Daniel Chamovitz, Yuval Sapir, Yossi Yovel, Lilach Hadany
bioRxiv 507319; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/507319
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Flowers respond to pollinator sound within minutes by increasing nectar sugar concentration
Marine Veits, Itzhak Khait, Uri Obolski, Eyal Zinger, Arjan Boonman, Aya Goldshtein, Kfir Saban, Udi Ben-Dor, Paz Estlein, Areej Kabat, Dor Peretz, Ittai Ratzersdorfer, Slava Krylov, Daniel Chamovitz, Yuval Sapir, Yossi Yovel, Lilach Hadany
bioRxiv 507319; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/507319

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