Thanks Ed: If anyone has more scientific references to this -- root communication/chemical signaling -- please send them along. Thank you to all for all the amazing sharing on this list; a joyful and inspired new year to all. Grace
On Jan 1, 8:24 pm, "Edward Frank" <[email protected]> wrote: > Grace, > > An interesting piece. One thing embedded in the report is the idea what a > plant recognizes as self versus non-self. > Plant ecologists have long recognized that some plant species seem to > prefer a clumped existence while others space themselves with near-military > precision... > Moreover, the work provides strong indications that some plants can > differentiate between their own roots and those of their same-species > neighbors. This raises the tantalizing possibility that some plants > distinguish between self and nonself in a process somewhat akin to the way > animal immune systems recognize foreign substances... > Interestingly, Mahall and Callaway (University of California, Santa > Barbara) saw contact inhibition only among Ambrosia roots from different > plants; when root tips from the same Ambrosia plant came in contact with each > other, no inhibition occurred. That finding, they say, "suggests that this > detection mechanism involves a capability of self-nonself recognition." > This has some interesting implications with regard to our discussion about > "competition" between multiple stems in a multitrunk tree and between trunks > in a clonal colony. It suggests that they are might not be strictly > competitive in the same way that they are competitive with foreign trunks. > > Ed Frank > > http://nature-web-network.blogspot.com/http://primalforests.ning.com/http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=709156957 -- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected]
