Plants Gamble! Recent Research Proved That Plants Are Not Just Passive Whe It Comes to Survival

Recent scientific studies proved that plants gamble too! Not only animal have the ability to assess the situation and gamble for survival.

A recent experimental study on pea plants shows that the plants of this species gamble for survival when faced in hard times. They switch from their normal behavior which is being a risk-avoider to become a risk-taker.

The recent studies was led by Efrat Dener, an environmental sciences master's student in Ben-Gurion University located in Beersheba, Israel. The experiments showed that viewing plants as passive is a wrong view. It was previously thought that plants' ability to do things in order to survive such as bending towards sunlight is not considered as a dynamic ability, says Alex Kacelnik, a behavioral ecologist from Oxfor University in Britain and Dener's company in the research. Furthermore, he said that plants have never been seen to take chances before, Science Magazine reported.

Animals are known to gamble for survival. One example is the dark-eyed juncos. A study on these small songbirds shows that the bird chooses the seed dispenser that gives out six or nothing over the one that constantly gives out three when faced over a cold situation.

Dener's research involves growing the pea plants in a greenhouse with their roots in a separate pot. One pot, the control, was given constant nutrients. The other, the variable, was given different nutrients at a time. After 12 weeks, Dener and his company measured the volume of the roots inside each pots.

Normally, each plants would choose the pot with the constant nutrient allotment over the one with no assurance. However, when faced a deadly circumstance, the plant chose the one that gives varied amount of nutrients. Basically, the plants are betting and hoping that the one with varied nutrients might give more to help them survive.

It was said that plants are even better at gambling than humans. Humans, although have high level of intellect, get easily clouded by emotions. Plants, however, having no emotion, only flows out with the best chance for its survival which is amazing, ZME Science reported.