There is evidence that plants and insects interact through sound, researchers at Tel Aviv University said on Tuesday (July 15), opening a new frontier in the study of acoustic communication in nature.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered that plants emit ultrasonic sounds when under stress, such as dehydration, and that certain insects, including female moths, can detect these signals. In experiments, moths preferred to lay their eggs on healthy, silent tomato plants rather than those emitting stress sounds, indicating that insects use these acoustic cues to make decisions about where to lay eggs.

The findings suggest a new dimension in plant-insect interactions and acoustic communication in nature. Scientists believe this research could lead to innovative approaches in agriculture and pest management by manipulating plant sounds to influence insect behavior.

Research finds that when plants talk, insects listen

New research suggests plants and insects are communicating through ultrasonic sound undetectable to the human ear. That's according to a study published by researchers at Tel Aviv University and opens a new frontier in the study of acoustic communication in nature. The study suggests female moths can detect ultrasonic distress signals emitted by dehydrated tomato plants, as shown by Dr. Ria Seltzer from the university's School of Zoology. We found that plants under stress produce these ultrasonic clicks. This is how it sounds like. Moths usually lay their eggs on tomato plants to provide food for their larvae after they hatch. In conducting an experiment using two healthy tomato plants, evidence suggests moths use the stress signals to decide the best place to lay their eggs. One is silent and the other produces stress sounds. And surprisingly now they prefer to lay their eggs around this silent plant, meaning that they understand that this is a healthier plant than this stress-producing plant. The discovery could have implications for agriculture and pest control. Professor Lilak Hadani says it could open up possibilities for managing crop health and insect behaviour through sound. We think that this is just the beginning. So many animals may be responding to different plants. Many animals have interactions with plants. We can think of herbivores, pollinators, on frugivores, the ones that eat the fruits. Sometimes on predators of herbivores, all these animals may gain some information from the sounds of the plants.

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