Continuing thinking about plant curiosities, another question is: How do plants tell time?
Some flowers open their petals at specific times of the day. Some plants move their leaves up during the day, and move their leaves down during the night. These and other plants’ events happen at specific times of the day and follow the internal clock of the plants.
The internal clock of plants is called the circadian clock. This is a molecular mechanism independent of environmental cues. Then, even if the plant is in constant light or darkness, the plant will still move its leaves up during the period of the day, and down during the period of the night, for example.
The main function of the circadian clock in plants is to anticipate the day and night and the cycles of temperature during one day. So everything happens at the right time. When the plants anticipate wrong… well, they may have a decrease in productivity, survival, and fitness.
The main references are:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6466001/
https://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/plantmotion/movements/leafmovements/bean/beansleep.html
Text and video by Maira Marins Dourado, PhD Student EpiSeedLink Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
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