5 ms·
During a Solar Eclipse, What Are Plants Doing?
- bactisme 7y agoIs there a difference between eclipse and bringing tour plant inside? How is it difficult to simulate a eclipse all year round ?
- leoedin 7y agoThat's my question. Could you not just put a box over the plant for 5 minutes? Even if it needed to be a more elaborate system to simulate the correct rate of light falling and rising, it would surely be easier than waiting for an eclipse.
- Amygaz 7y agoThat's how biologists study changes and shift in diurnal cycle and circadian rhythm with pretty much every organisms. Rapid eclipse-like changed have been studied in automated incubation chamber. And all this was already known, and was part of my biology text book 20 years ago. That scientific news in NYT is the new normal sensationalism. The plants aren't really shocked. They've dealt with that for millions of year. It's not like they can escape, or turn on the artificial light bulb.
- UnFleshedOne 7y agoThere is an argument for posting articles on established science more often (or well, ever) in the news. Not everybody paid attention in biology class and there is a benefit of not having to post reversal when the next cutting edge article comes out with opposite findings. "BOATS EXPLAINED: Centuries-Old Problem Solved By Bathtub Nudist" https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ndGYn7ZFiZyernp9f/the-beauty-of-settled-science https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ndGYn7ZFiZyernp9f/the-beauty...
- jayd16 7y agoI guess you don't really know unless you test it.
- jotm 7y agoThey (start to) switch from photosynthesis to respiration, then are surprised and slightly inconvenienced that they have to abort and go back.
- faceplanted 7y agoThis comment feels very Terry Pratchett
- mikorym 7y agoWait until you hear what happens to the camels.
- pwagland 7y ago14% loss in production over a day is more than "slightly inconvenienced".
- macspoofing 7y agoThey could have lost that production from being stepped on or fed on, or from unseasonably cloudy or rainy weather. Even for a plant 14% loss every few years feels like a no big deal. The macro effects are certainly interesting area of research.
- mikeash 7y agoEvery ~400 years or so.
- yeahitslikethat 7y agoOnce in a lifetime if ever for most plants then. Nbd.
- NeutronStar 7y agoWhich goes down to 0.1% for a 5 month summer, every 400 years.
- fridgamarator 7y agoSome data my company collected during the August 2017 eclipse in Nebraska - http://www.licor.com/env/newsline/2017/08/solar-eclipse-data-from-li-cor/ http://www.licor.com/env/newsline/2017/08/solar-eclipse-data...