© Julian Harris and Dominic Clarke
Flowers may be silent, but scientists have just discovered that electric fields allow them to communicate with bumblebees and possibly other species, including humans.
It's well known that color, shape, pattern and fragrances allow flowers to connect with pollinators, but the new study, published in the journal
Science, adds electricity to this already impressive lineup.
"We just now have discovered that electrical potentials, an unavoidable by-product of flying in air for bumblebees and being grounded for the flower, is being exploited to benefit both parties," co-author Daniel Robert told Discovery News. It's "another example of the beauty of evolution," added Robert, a professor in the University of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences.
He explained that bees have a positive electrical charge because they fly in air, which is full of all kinds of tiny particles, such as dust and charged molecules. Friction from these particles causes bees to lose electrons, leaving bumblebees positively charged.
Flowers, on the other hand, "are electrically connected to ground," he said. Unlike copper wire, which transfers charges very quickly, plants conduct electricity very slowly and tend to possess a negative charge.
Comment: The planet's atmosphere may generally serve to protect us from overhead explosions of incoming space rocks, but what if the composition of the atmosphere changes, enabling more bodies to come closer to the surface or facilitating greater electrical exchange between bolide and planet?
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