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A woody vine, Boquila trifoliolata, has been discovered in Chile that has the amazing ability to change the shape of its leaves depending on what tree it is climbing. Further, the same single vine can drape different species of tree, and it will match the shape and size of its leaves to those of each host, but only along that portion of its length.
Other vines are known to mimic one species of host, as a defense against herbivores, but this vine can mimic many, along its length. Biologists say "It is unclear how B. trifoliolata vines discern the identity of individual trees and shape-shift accordingly." Speculation is that chemicals or microbes might trigger gene-activating signals that trigger leaf differentiation. But left unsaid is how the vine would "learn" how to match the shape of its new host's leaf, how it would know it had succeeded, where it would acquire the genes to do so, and how many different trees it can mimic.
Wouldn't you need eyes to do that?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RedBear on Tuesday April 29 2014, @01:42PM
Because we have eyes to see the mimicry, we naturally tend to assume that one must have eyes in order to see the appearance of what one wants to mimic. Yet plants have no eyes.
Because we have "intelligence" to understand what the mimicry is accomplishing, we naturally tend to assume that because the end result is complex the mechanism must be complex, and we tend to be amazed that it has occurred without any apparent "intelligence" involved. Yet plants have no intelligence.
An insect was recently discovered with a fully functional multi-tooth meshing gear mechanism in its back legs that engages when it jumps, to make it jump straighter, and disengages when it walks. Because we know how long it took humanity to discover mechanical gears, we naturally marvel at this thing we assumed we'd never find in nature. Yet there it is. Evolved, in nature.
The discovery of fractals showed us that a high degree of apparent complexity in an end result can originate from remarkably simple self-propagating algorithms.
So is it necessarily true that what this vine has evolved to do is something amazingly complex, or is it just that we don't yet fully understand the remarkably simple rules which govern both evolution and leaf development? Isn't the most likely explanation that what causes the vine to develop different leaf shapes is exactly the same metabolic mechanism that causes the host plant to develop the same leaf shape, and that the vine is doing this "mimicry" completely unintentionally by a fortunate accident of evolution, and that there will be nothing particularly amazing about it once we understand the root cause?
I'd say, yes. And once we figure out how it works, we humans with our "intelligence" will be able to take that metabolic mechanism and manipulate a single tree to develop dozens of different kinds of leaves. Imagine a tree with a different kind of leaf shape and color on every branch. Imagine new leaf shapes that have never been seen in nature. And THAT, my friends, will be breathtaking.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ