Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

The sounds of plants – Plants emit remotely-detectable ultrasounds that can reveal plant stress

I. Khait, R. Sharon, R. Perelman, A. Boonman, Y. Yovel, L. Hadany
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/507590
I. Khait
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
R. Sharon
3School of Mathematical Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
R. Perelman
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
A. Boonman
2School of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Y. Yovel
2School of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
L. Hadany
1School of Plant Sciences and Food Security, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: Lilach.hadany@gmail.com
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Plants communicate with their environment in many ways, using colors and shapes and secreting chemicals. Yet, the possibility that plants emit airborne sounds that reveal their condition has not been investigated. Here, we develop a novel method for remotely detecting plant sound emission. We use it to demonstrate, to our knowledge for the first time, that plants emit sounds that can be recorded from a distance. We recorded ∼65 dBSPL ultrasonic sounds at 10 cm distance from tomato and tobacco plants, suggesting that these sounds could be detected by many animals from up to several meters. We further train machine learning algorithms to identify the physiological condition of tomato and tobacco plants based solely on the emitted sounds. We successfully classified the plant’s condition – dry, cut, or intact – based on its emitted sounds. Our results suggest that animals, and possibly even other plants, could use sounds emitted by plants to gain information about the plant’s condition. More investigation on plant bioacoustics in general and on sound emission in plants in particular may open new avenues for understanding plants, and their interactions with the environment.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted December 28, 2018.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
The sounds of plants – Plants emit remotely-detectable ultrasounds that can reveal plant stress
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
The sounds of plants – Plants emit remotely-detectable ultrasounds that can reveal plant stress
I. Khait, R. Sharon, R. Perelman, A. Boonman, Y. Yovel, L. Hadany
bioRxiv 507590; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/507590
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
The sounds of plants – Plants emit remotely-detectable ultrasounds that can reveal plant stress
I. Khait, R. Sharon, R. Perelman, A. Boonman, Y. Yovel, L. Hadany
bioRxiv 507590; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/507590

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Plant Biology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (3607)
  • Biochemistry (7581)
  • Bioengineering (5529)
  • Bioinformatics (20809)
  • Biophysics (10338)
  • Cancer Biology (7988)
  • Cell Biology (11647)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (6611)
  • Ecology (10217)
  • Epidemiology (2065)
  • Evolutionary Biology (13630)
  • Genetics (9550)
  • Genomics (12854)
  • Immunology (7925)
  • Microbiology (19555)
  • Molecular Biology (7668)
  • Neuroscience (42147)
  • Paleontology (308)
  • Pathology (1258)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2203)
  • Physiology (3269)
  • Plant Biology (7051)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1294)
  • Synthetic Biology (1952)
  • Systems Biology (5429)
  • Zoology (1119)