The Secret Senses of Plants
In an extreme dramatization in the film, The Happening, trees emit neurotoxins that cause humans to kill themselves. In Tobago, the Main Ridge Forest Reserve is treasured for the benefits to human well-being. Do plants really see, smell and respond to stimuli. Dr. Anjani Ganase, marine scientist, looks at the evidence. Plants have been around for about 465 million years with some of the oldest plant species existing for over 100 million years ago, including species of pine, cycads and gingko. Humans have only been around for 250 thousand years. The evolution of bacteria in the ocean to carry out photosynthesis, where light energy from sun and carbon dioxide were converted to food and oxygen, dramatically altered the atmospheric conditions of the planet. This was known as the Great Oxidation Event. Increasing levels of oxygen formed the ozone layer that made living outside the water possible; and about 500 million years ago, plants began evolving on land ...