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https://theconversation.com/plants-breathe-with-millions-of-tiny-mouths-we-used-lasers-to-understand-how-this-skill-evolved-249362>
"Plant behaviour may seem rather boring compared with the frenetic excesses of
animals. Yet the lives of our vegetable friends, who tirelessly feed the entire
biosphere (including us), are full of exciting action. It just requires a
little more effort to appreciate.
One such behaviour is the dynamic opening and closing of millions of tiny
mouths (called stomata) located on each leaf, through which plants “breathe”.
In this process they let out water extracted from the soil in exchange for
precious carbon dioxide from the air, which they need to produce sugar in the
sunlight-powered process of photosynthesis.
Opening the stomata at the wrong time can waste valuable water and risk a
catastrophic drying-out of the plant’s vascular system. Almost all land plants
control their stomata very precisely in response to light and humidity to
optimise growth while minimising the damage risk.
How plants evolved this extraordinary balancing act has been the subject of
considerable debate among scientists. In a new paper published in
PNAS we
used lasers to find out how the earliest stomata may have operated."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
