Flowers respond to pollinator sound within minutes by increasing nectar sugar concentration

Veits, Marine; Khait, Itzhak; Obolski, Uri; Zinger, Eyal; Boonman, Arjan; Goldshtein, Aya; Saban, Kfir; Seltzer, Rya; Ben-Dor, Udi; Hadany, Lilach

Flowers respond to pollinator sound within minutes by increasing nectar sugar concentration

Files

Goldshtein_2-hnwzxa0e5orq2.pdf(562.22 KB)

Date

2019

Authors

Veits, Marine

Khait, Itzhak

Obolski, Uri

Zinger, Eyal

Boonman, Arjan

Goldshtein, Aya

Saban, Kfir

Seltzer, Rya

Ben-Dor, Udi

Hadany, Lilach

Publication type

Journal article

Publication status

Published

Published in

Ecology letters ; 22 (2019), 9. - pp. 1483-1492. - Wiley-Blackwell - STM. - ISSN 1461-023X. - eISSN 1461-0248

Abstract

Can plants sense natural airborne sounds and respond to them rapidly? We show that Oenothera drummondii flowers, exposed to playback sound of a flying bee or to synthetic sound signals at similar frequencies, produce sweeter nectar within 3 min, potentially increasing the chances of cross pollination. We found that the flowers vibrated mechanically in response to these sounds, suggesting a plausible mechanism where the flower serves as an auditory sensory organ. Both the vibration and the nectar response were frequency-specific: the flowers responded and vibrated to pollinator sounds, but not to higher frequency sound. Our results document for the first time that plants can rapidly respond to pollinator sounds in an ecologically relevant way. Potential implications include plant resource allocation, the evolution of flower shape and the evolution of pollinators sound. Finally, our results suggest that plants may be affected by other sounds as well, including anthropogenic ones.

Subject (DDC)

570 Biosciences, Biology

Keywords

Communication, nectar, plant bioacoustics, plant–pollinator interactions, pollination, signalling, vibration

Cite This

ISO 690

VEITS, Marine, Itzhak KHAIT, Uri OBOLSKI, Eyal ZINGER, Arjan BOONMAN, Aya GOLDSHTEIN, Kfir SABAN, Rya SELTZER, Udi BEN-DOR, Lilach HADANY, 2019. Flowers respond to pollinator sound within minutes by increasing nectar sugar concentration. In: Ecology letters. Wiley-Blackwell - STM. 22(9), pp. 1483-1492. ISSN 1461-023X. eISSN 1461-0248. Available under: doi: 10.1111/ele.13331

BibTex

@article{Veits2019-09Flowe-54843,
  year={2019},
  doi={10.1111/ele.13331},
  title={Flowers respond to pollinator sound within minutes by increasing nectar sugar concentration},
  number={9},
  volume={22},
  issn={1461-023X},
  journal={Ecology letters},
  pages={1483--1492},
  author={Veits, Marine and Khait, Itzhak and Obolski, Uri and Zinger, Eyal and Boonman, Arjan and Goldshtein, Aya and Saban, Kfir and Seltzer, Rya and Ben-Dor, Udi and Hadany, Lilach}
}

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Refereed

Yes