植物在受到壓力時發(fā)出的聲音太高，人的耳朵聽不到

植物在受到壓力時發(fā)出的聲音太高，人的耳朵聽不到

Some plants emit “ultrasonic clicks” inaudible to the human ear when under life-threatening stress, a new study has found. Recordings reveal each sound contains information about a plant’s current state of being.

一項新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，一些植物在受到威脅生命的壓力時，會發(fā)出人耳聽不到的“超聲波滴答聲”。錄音顯示，每一種聲音都包含著植物當(dāng)前狀態(tài)的信息。

“These findings can alter the way we think about the Plant Kingdom, which has been considered to be almost silent until now,” write the study authors in a paper available to read on preprint server bioRxiv. The findings have not been published in a journal nor have they been certified by peer review, but the researchers say that their findings add to the scientific understanding of plant evolution and ecology around the world.

“這些發(fā)現(xiàn)可能會改變我們對植物王國的看法，在此之前，植物王國一直被認(rèn)為幾乎是沉默的，”該研究的作者在一篇可以在bioRxiv預(yù)印本服務(wù)器上閱讀的論文中寫道。這些發(fā)現(xiàn)既沒有發(fā)表在期刊上，也沒有得到同行評審的認(rèn)證，但研究人員表示，他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)有助于科學(xué)地理解世界各地的植物進(jìn)化和生態(tài)。

Previous studies have found that stress caused by changes in temperatures and light, as well as “herbivore attack,” can alter a plant’s phenotype, resulting in changes in color, smell, and shape. Stressed plants have also been found to give off volatile organic compounds. To examine whether plants make audible sounds as well, researchers at Tel Aviv University recorded tomato and tobacco plants that were deprived of water, having their stems cut, or were otherwise comfortable. Microphones focused on an ultrasonic sound range between 20 and 150 kHz.

以前的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，溫度和光線的變化以及“食草動物攻擊”造成的壓力會改變植物的表型，導(dǎo)致顏色、氣味和形狀的變化。壓力大的植物也會釋放出揮發(fā)性有機(jī)化合物。為了研究植物是否也會發(fā)出可聽見的聲音，特拉維夫大學(xué)的研究人員記錄了番茄和煙草植物在缺水、莖被切斷或其他舒適環(huán)境下的情況。麥克風(fēng)聚焦在20至150千赫的超聲波范圍內(nèi)。

Stressed plants were found to emit significantly more sounds than plants from the comfortable control group. Not only were they noisier, but the researchers claim that they gave off different sounds depending on what was happening; sounds that carried information about the physiological state of the plant. A specially designed machine learning model was reportedly capable of distinguishing between plant sounds and general background noise, going so far as to identify whether a plant was water-deprived or being cut.

研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，壓力大的植物發(fā)出的聲音明顯比舒適對照組的植物更多。它們不僅噪音更大，而且研究人員聲稱，它們發(fā)出的聲音也會根據(jù)所發(fā)生的事情而有所不同;聲音傳遞著植物生理狀態(tài)的信息。據(jù)報道，一種特別設(shè)計的機(jī)器學(xué)習(xí)模型能夠區(qū)分植物的聲音和一般的背景噪音，甚至能夠識別植物是否缺水或被砍伐。