Sounds Emitted by Plants Under Stress Are Airborne and Informative
Scientists have discovered that stressed plants emit ultrasonic sounds that reveal when they're thirsty or injured. The findings could transform agriculture by enabling farmers to detect crop stress earlier while deepening our understanding of how plants interact with the world around them.
Turns out plants have been talking all along—we just weren't listening. Researchers found that tomato and tobacco plants emit ultrasonic sounds when they're stressed from drought or injury, and those sounds can be detected from a distance and accurately classified using machine learning. It's another reminder that healthy ecosystems are constantly exchanging information in ways we still don't fully understand, with discoveries that could one day help farmers detect crop stress long before it's visible.
NOTE: this paper was originally published to Cell Press on March 30, 2023. It was written by Khait et all.
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