OFV-505/5000激光測振儀用于探測植物的“耳朵”

Scientists have found evidence that plants can actually hear the buzz of passing bees and produce sweeter nectar in response to entice the flying insects in. And flowers are technically their "ears".

科學家們發現，有證據表明植物確實能聽到路過的蜜蜂發出的嗡嗡聲，并會釋放出更甜的花蜜來吸引昆蟲。嚴格來說，花是它們的“耳朵”。

Based on observations of evening primroses (Oenothera drummondii), the team behind the new study discovered that within minutes of sensing the sound waves of nearby bee wings through flower petals, the concentration of the sugar in the plant's nectar was increased by an average of 20 percent.

通過對一種晚上開花的報春花[海邊月見草（一種原產于美國大西洋海岸與墨西哥灣海岸的植物）]的觀察，這項研究的團隊發現，報春花通過花瓣感應到了附近蜜蜂翅膀震動的聲波，在幾分鐘內，植物花蜜中的糖份濃度平均增加了20%。

The flowers even seemed able to tune out irrelevant background noises, such as the wind.

這些花甚至可以排除周圍無關的噪音，比如風。

This capability could well give some plants an evolutionary advantage, say the scientists, maximising their chances of spreading pollen.

科學家們說，這種能力很可能使一些植物在進化上更具優勢，有更多傳播花粉的機會。

"Our results document for the first time that plants can rapidly respond to pollinator sounds in an ecologically relevant way," write the researchers from Tel-Aviv University in Israel.

以色列特拉維夫大學的研究人員寫道：“實驗結果首次證明了植物能夠以一種生態的方式快速對傳粉者的聲音做出回應?！?/span>

The scientists went into the experiments with a hypothesis in place: that plants can indeed pick up the vibrations of sound waves, and that this might be part of the reason many plants' flowers are bowl shaped, to better trap the sounds.

在實驗中，科學家們提出了一個假設：植物確實能夠接收到聲波，而為了更好地捕捉聲音，所以大部分植物的花成碗狀。

Across several experiments involving more than 650 evening primrose flowers, nectar production was measured in response to silence, sound at three different frequency levels, and a recording of the buzzing noise made by bees.

實驗中，涉及了650多種晚上開花的報春花，測試了它們對無聲、三種不同頻率的聲音以及蜜蜂發出的嗡嗡聲所做出的反應。

Sure enough, both the field recording of buzzing bees and the low-frequency sounds that closely matched the recording were enough to change the mix of the nectar in just three minutes. The silence and the high and mid frequency sounds had no effect.

果不其然，蜜蜂聲音的現場錄音和與之相似的低頻聲音在三分鐘內便可改變花蜜的濃度。無聲和高中頻的聲音則對花蜜的濃度無影響。

The team also tried the experiments with plants that had some flower petals removed. No change in nectar production was noted, indicating that it is indeed the flowers that have the job of the ears.

研究小組還對一些被摘掉花瓣的植物進行了實驗?；鄣臐舛炔]有發生變化，這說明植物的花確實具有“耳朵”的功能。

These lab tests were backed up by observations the team made in the wild.

這些在實驗室進行的實驗幫助實驗小組獲得了去野外觀察的機會。

"Plants have plenty of interactions with animals, and animals both make and hear noises," one of the team, Lilach Hadany, told Ed Yong at The Atlantic.

研究小組成員之一利拉赫?哈達尼在接受《大西洋月刊》采訪時說：“植物和動物之間的互動非常頻繁，動物既能發出聲音，也能聽到聲音?！?/span>

"It would be maladaptive for plants to not use sound for communication. We tried to make clear predictions to test that and were quite surprised when it worked out."

“植物不利用聲音進行交流是很難適應環境的。為了驗證這一觀點，我們進行了清晰的推測，而結果也確實如此，這讓我們感到非常驚訝?！?/span>

Pushing out sweeter nectar means bees may well stay feeding for longer—increasing the chances that they'll pick up pollen—and also makes it more likely that the insects will return to flowers of the same species in the future.

當植物釋放出更甜的花蜜，蜜蜂停留的時間就會更長——這樣才會增加它們獲得花粉的機會——同時也可使蜜蜂再次停留在相同物種花朵的可能性大大增加。

Next, the researchers want to look at how plants might respond to other sounds and animals, including humans.

接下來，研究人員希望能夠了解植物對其他聲音和動物（包括人類）的反應方式。

"Some people may think, how can [plants] hear or smell?" one of the study authors Marine Veits told National Geographic. "I'd like people to understand that hearing is not only for ears."

該實驗的研究者之一馬里內?法伊茨在接受《國家地理》采訪時說：“有些人可能會想，植物怎么能聽見聲音、聞到氣味呢？我希望人們明白，聽不僅僅可以靠耳朵?！?/span>

本文素材來源：ScienceAlert網站

論文:Flowers respond to pollinator sound within minutes by increasing nectar sugar concentration.

文章來源:新東方英語