More Designed Features in Trees: Pulse, Sort of

Trees have been in the news recently.




Joel Kontinen

Trees have made headlines in recent years. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, as they are full of self-assembling solar panels.

Some time ago we heard that trees sleep at night.

Then we got to know that trees communicate with other trees.

Soon afterwards a study found that at least one eucalyptus species “sweats” to keep cool during heatwaves.

The latest surprise has to do with something akin to a pulse: “We’ve discovered that most trees have regular periodic changes in shape, synchronised across the whole plant and shorter than a day-night cycle, which imply periodic changes in water pressure,” New Scientist quotes Dr. András Zlinszky as saying.


Source:

Coghlan, Andy. 2018. Trees may have a ‘heartbeat’ that is so slow we never noticed it. New Scientist (20 April).