Sunflowers care for each other. They move so as to cast as little shade as possible on their neighbors.

Darwin was the first scientist to be interested in the feeding movements of plants. Since then, scientists who have studied them have realized that these circular or oscillating movements usually serve, among other things, the buds’ search for support. However, feeding movements are also carried out by sunflowers following the sun. And as we all know, it has to do with facing the light source. However, how They order Scientists from Israel and the United States, this is not a purely selfish act. It turns out that The densely growing sunflowers are moved so that they cast as little shade as possible on neighboring plants..

Previous research has shown that if sunflowers are planted densely, their growth pattern resembles a zigzag. One plant leans forward, while the neighboring plant leans back. In this way, the entire community increases its access to sunlight. Moreover, they can distinguish the shadow cast by a building, for example, from the shadow of other plants. If they sense the shadow of a building, they don’t change their growth direction because they know it won’t help. If they sense the shadow of another plant, they grow away from that shadow, because that plant will also move away.The study’s lead author, Prof. Yasmin Meroz of Tel Aviv University, explains.

The study authors conducted an experiment in which they photographed densely planted sunflowers every few minutes. This way they could track the movements of each plant. We analyzed the movement of each plant in the group, watching them dance as they grew, and saw that each plant tried to grow so as not to block the light of its neighbor. What surprised us was the sheer range of movements, which reached three orders of magnitude. Depending on the situation, the plants either did not change position almost completely or moved up to 2 cm every few minutes in different directions.The world adds.

This great flexibility in movement allows sunflowers to take care of their neighbors and increase their photosynthesis. If sunflowers were only able to make large movements, or only small movements, they would be more likely to block each other out and cast shadows on their neighbors. It’s like dancing in a crowded place, where each dancer moves to make as much space as possible.[…] The dynamics of sunflower movement are a combination of reactions to the shade of other plants with random movements independent of external stimuli.Miroz says.

sunflower, sun nutation, shadow