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Insects Use Plant Like a "Telephone"

10 points by nreece 18y ago

pj 18y ago
This is not communication. The subterranean insects probably know nothing at all about the above ground insects feeding on the leaves. Thinking about it evolutionarily in two ways 1) plants into which the subterranean insects unknowingly inject their distasteful chemicals live longer because above ground insects do not eat them to death, thus the subterranean insects live longer and propagate more. 2) in A Walk In the Woods, I read about trees that when chewed upon by an outside force, will produce a chemical that will drive the predator away. They can even send signals to other trees. This same chemical may be the one that fends off the above ground predators, but the subterranean ones are immune. Anyway, there are many explanations for this phenomenon that do not include the conscious "use" of the plant to communicate with other animals of other species. The article is misleading at best. using a telephone is a process which implies that the caller believes to some degree that someone else will answer the phone and a conversation can be had. There's nothing of that sort going on here...
- jrockway 18y ago
  Well said. I think they are trying to use the word "telephone" to mean any sort of communication or signaling between two entities, and that's just not a correct use of the word.
markessien 18y ago
This is something that is going to happen very quickly: You have a forest full of plants. These plants have insects living in their roots which are feeding on them. At some point in time, insects arrive and settle on the leaves of the plants. They start feeding, and the plants die on or two weeks later. So these insects move to other plants nearby - soon, all the plants in the field are dead, and then all the insects in the field are dead. But let's say there is a single insect underground that feeds in such a way that the chemical composition of the plant is mildly changed from the standard plant. The above ground insects will avoid this plant, because it smells a bit different, and so this plant will be one of the last to die. As a result, it will be the dominant plan in the next generation of plants. In the next generation, the plant that emphasizes this trait will continue to win, and in a few generations, the evolution will occur. This ties in with my theory that evolution can only occur under very high pressure, and it happens very suddenly. This slow evolution theory that is common now is wrong, in my opinion. I believe that mutation is common, but singificant changes happen only under immense pressure. That's why humans are no longer evolving. That's why women still have to suffer at childbirth - midwives have removed the pressure.

10 points by nreece 18y ago

pj 18y ago

This is not communication. The subterranean insects probably know nothing at all about the above ground insects feeding on the leaves. Thinking about it evolutionarily in two ways 1) plants into which the subterranean insects unknowingly inject their distasteful chemicals live longer because above ground insects do not eat them to death, thus the subterranean insects live longer and propagate more. 2) in A Walk In the Woods, I read about trees that when chewed upon by an outside force, will produce a chemical that will drive the predator away. They can even send signals to other trees. This same chemical may be the one that fends off the above ground predators, but the subterranean ones are immune. Anyway, there are many explanations for this phenomenon that do not include the conscious "use" of the plant to communicate with other animals of other species. The article is misleading at best. using a telephone is a process which implies that the caller believes to some degree that someone else will answer the phone and a conversation can be had. There's nothing of that sort going on here...

jrockway 18y ago
Well said. I think they are trying to use the word "telephone" to mean any sort of communication or signaling between two entities, and that's just not a correct use of the word.

markessien 18y ago

This is something that is going to happen very quickly: You have a forest full of plants. These plants have insects living in their roots which are feeding on them. At some point in time, insects arrive and settle on the leaves of the plants. They start feeding, and the plants die on or two weeks later. So these insects move to other plants nearby - soon, all the plants in the field are dead, and then all the insects in the field are dead. But let's say there is a single insect underground that feeds in such a way that the chemical composition of the plant is mildly changed from the standard plant. The above ground insects will avoid this plant, because it smells a bit different, and so this plant will be one of the last to die. As a result, it will be the dominant plan in the next generation of plants. In the next generation, the plant that emphasizes this trait will continue to win, and in a few generations, the evolution will occur. This ties in with my theory that evolution can only occur under very high pressure, and it happens very suddenly. This slow evolution theory that is common now is wrong, in my opinion. I believe that mutation is common, but singificant changes happen only under immense pressure. That's why humans are no longer evolving. That's why women still have to suffer at childbirth - midwives have removed the pressure.