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Are Plants More Intelligent Than We Assumed?

posted by janrinok on Wednesday March 05 2014, @03:00AM   
from the feed-me-FEED-me dept.

Detective_Thorn writes:

"Plants are also able to make complex decisions. At least this is what scientists from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the University of Gottingen have concluded from their investigations on Barberry (Berberis vulgaris), which is able to abort its own seeds to prevent parasite infestation. The results are the first ecological evidence of complex behaviour in plants. They indicate that this species has a structural memory, is able to differentiate between inner and outer conditions as well as anticipate future risks, scientists write in the renowned journal American Naturalist, the premier peer-reviewed American journal for theoretical ecology.

• Some single celled creatures too Some single celled creatures too (Score: 3, Interesting) by TheLink on Wednesday March 05 2014, @04:28PM

  by TheLink (332) on Wednesday March 05 2014, @04:28PM (#11384) Journal

  And I think the intelligence of some unicellular creatures is underrated. Many people assume that you need brains to think. But there are some unicellular creatures that build quite sophisticated shells for themselves[1] - and some won't even reproduce despite having enough food, unless they have enough shell material for the daughter cell:
  http://biostor.org/reference/7123 [biostor.org]

  The following experiments were made to test the effect of culturing
  Pontigulasia vas without shell materials. The cultures were run in
  pairs, one was supplied with powdered sand or glass, the other was not.
  Beside this difference they were as far as possible exactly alike in
  composition and received the same treatment during the course of the
  experiments. The cultures with materials for shell building were
  considered the controls.

  After withholding material for a whie:

  The rest of these Ponlignlasia were given sand to determine if
  their power of reproduction had been affected. After some delay
  division took place. An individual from Culture 3 gave a typical
  reaction. This animal made no effort at first to collect shell materials
  but began to do so three days later. By the fourth day it had produced
  a normal offspring. It appears, therefore, that the power of reproduc-
  tion had not been permanently affected.

  During the experiments the actions of the Pontigulasia without
  shell materials were interesting. Much of the time was spent moving
  about on the bottom of the watch glasses without any attempt to feed.
  At such times the pseudopods would become ragged in outline with a
  wide hyaline area at the ends. This type of pseudopod is usually
  associated with the collection of test materials. Undoubtedly these
  animals would have collected sand had it been present. After a day or
  two of such moving about the animals would begin to feed again. At
  other times they would go into a quiescent state for several days before
  feeding.

  (full text here: https://archive.org/stream/biologicalbullet70mari/ biologicalbullet70mari_djvu.txt [archive.org])

  See also: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24444111 [nih.gov]

  We examined shell construction process in P. chromatophora in detail using time-lapse video microscopy. The new shell was constructed by a specialized pseudopodium that laid out each scale into correct position, one scale at a time. The present study inferred that the sequence of scale production and secretion was well controlled.

  OK maybe it's "instinct" but do we really understand such creatures enough to be sure they are as stupid as most of us think they are?

  They may not be as smart as us, but many multicellular animals don't seem that smart either. And how smart can you behave if you have limited senses and abilities? What if intelligence isn't only due to networks of neurons but the neurons themselves are significantly intelligent? If you are a smart single celled creature and you needed to control a huge multicellular body you'd need to work together with other like-minded single celled creatures- for redundancy and just for making the necessary "connections" (can't hook up to muscles by yourself).

  [1] in comparison hermit crabs don't even build their own "home" shells ( but allegedly some have an interesting "protocol" for swapping shells: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vacancy- hermit-crab-social-networks/ [scientificamerican.com] ).

  Parent

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• Re:Some single celled creatures too (Score: 3, Insightful) by TheLink on Wednesday March 05 2014, @04:37PM

  by TheLink (332) on Wednesday March 05 2014, @04:37PM (#11390) Journal

  Oops forgot the clarification - many testate amoeba species have distinctive shells! It's not just random arrangement of stuff.
  http://bogology.org/what-we-do/in-the-lab/testate- amoebae/ [bogology.org]
  https://sites.google.com/site/hegerthierry/testate -amoebae [google.com]
  http://www.arcella.nl/nebela-clades [arcella.nl]
  http://www.arcella.nl/lesquereusia-spiralis [arcella.nl]

  Parent