Wednesday, April 08, 2020
Good question leads to bigger question
Via Eurekalert, an interesting study of PURPOSE in plants. The authors have uncovered an important distinction that irresistibly leads to a bigger question.
Mechanical accidents happen to plants fairly often and can, in some cases, stop the plant from being able to attract pollinating insects and so, make seeds. Making seeds and propagating is a flower's main purpose, so injuries which threaten that pose a huge problem."The author is unwilling to go beyond evolutionary thought, assuming reproduction is the only purpose of life. The plants are trying to tell him something about broader purposes, but he doesn't quite get it, or isn't willing to say it. (Highly understandable and forgivable. Why ruin your career by expressing a fact when the fact is self-evident in the research? Let the readers see it for themselves.)
The study found that bilaterally symmetrical flowers - those in which the left and right sides mirror each other, such as snapdragon, orchid, and sweet pea - can almost always restore their 'correct' orientation by moving individual flower stems or even moving the stalk that supports a cluster of flowers. Plants' movement after an injury isn't only about making seeds; these plants were seen to bend or twist to make sure their leaves were again facing the Sun, necessary for photosynthesis, the process by which a plant produces its food. Radially symmetrical flowers, star-shaped flowers, such as petunia, buttercup, and wild rose - lacked this ability and their stems rarely recovered after an injury.There's another difference between bilateral and radial flowers. Bilateral flowers, and legumes in general, intelligently respond to insects. Snapdragons use their top flap to knock a bee down into the nectar. Clover bends used-up florets out of the way so bees won't waste time on them. Venus flytrap is bilateral. Another recent discovery may also relate to symmetry. Plants use their petals to hear airborne sound. A bilateral flower can use its hearing differentially to locate a sound. A radial flower focuses sound from a broad area, and can't localize individual sounds across the area. Differential hearing, and differential sensing of gravity, may help the plant to resume its correct orientation. The bigger question: Animals have the same distinction between radial and bilateral. Radial animals are simple and mostly sessile on the seafloor. Bilateral animals have differential senses, focusing on one direction and moving in one direction. Bilaterals use intelligence actively to accomplish a wide range of purposes.
Labels: Grand Blueprint, Smarty-plants
¶ 5:40 AM
