Bristol scientists discovered that plants communicate by clicking sounds, inaudible to human ears.
Scientists at Bristol University listened to corn saplings – and heard clicking sounds coming from their roots.
When they suspended their roots in water and played a continuous noise at a similar frequency to the clicks, they found the plants grew towards it.
Daniel Robert, a biology professor at Bristol, said: These very noisy little clicks have the potential to constitute a channel of communication between the roots.
It makes sense for plants to produce and respond to sound vibrations, as it gives them information about the environment around them.
Sound waves can travel easily through soil and Monica Gagliano, from the University of Western Australia suggested it could be a way of picking up threats such as drought from their neighbours further away.
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