Scientists Observed an Astonishing Response of Trees When They Left Sensors on Them During Solar Eclipse

It has typically been hard for researchers to record actions performed by plants and trees. Unlike animals, they don't react in ways that human senses can easily perceive. For years, experts speculated whether trees react to phenomena like solar eclipses. To capture their reactions, if any, researchers conducted an examination in a forest in Italy's Dolomites region, according to Science Alert. Findings associated with this examination were published in Royal Society Open Science.

Before the study, experts had observed how individual plants reacted to solar eclipses, but had never noted changes in a group, like other living beings. Oftentimes, humans and animals gather to witness the phenomenon. The study wanted to figure out if that was the case for trees. The team chose a predicted solar eclipse on October 25, 2022.

Researchers focused the study on the spruce trees in the Costa Bocche forest. Before the solar eclipse, they left certain sensors in these trees to record their bioelectrical impulses throughout the whole period. The team wanted to monitor the electrical signals because they are a sign that communication is taking place across beings. Charged molecules are present in every living being. The electrical activity administered by them is labelled the organism's 'electrome.' This 'electrome' gets facilitated by the ions across cell membranes, creating currents in the process. These currents allow the living beings, including humans, to coordinate their bodies for communication.

The sensors were wired to three trees and five tree stumps. Amongst the trees, two were 70 years old, of which one was growing in shade, while the other was in sunlight. The third one was just 20 years old. Scientists wanted to understand whether any change in voltage occurred across cell membranes during the one-hour eclipse. The setup was done in such a way that both the responses produced by individual trees and the bioelectrical signals that passed between different trees were recorded. 

The study noted that the electrical activity within different trees became more synchronized before and during the solar eclipse, according to Phys.org. This implies that during such phenomena, the trees acted as a unified living being. This is the first time scientists have observed such dynamic synchronization in a group of trees, without any involvement of matter. Another noteworthy thing which researchers observed was that the older trees spearheaded the responses. This made researchers believe that older ones of the lot possibly remember past weather changes, and in a way, guide others. 

All the observed changes happened at a microscopic level, according to Science Alert. The voltage alteration was noted in places like water and lymph molecules of the trees. The changes were similar in all subjects. Bioelectric responses were also noted in the tree stumps, which indicates that they were still alive. Experts also spotted bioelectrical waves travelling between trees, through their sensors. The synchronization and transmission align with past studies that found long-distance signalling amongst various trees in the forest. 

Experts think the synchronization took place, so that trees could be prepared for consequences like slow movement of sap, during the eclipse, according to Discover Magazine. Such actions reveal that trees also use communication in their process of adaptation to changing conditions. Researchers are yet to figure out how trees knew that a solar eclipse was on the horizon. They guess that changes in gravitational forces due to the altered position of the moon and the sun were at play in making the trees anticipate the upcoming eclipse. 

The finding further proves that it is important to protect old forests. It is implied with this examination that they have a storehouse of ecological knowledge, which includes past weather phenomena. Losing them would result in humans losing centuries worth of knowledge, that they could possibly implement in preparing for future events.