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eurekin12/08/20244 repliesview on HN

Is the sound part real? What frequencies are used to communicate stress? Is this in range of anything I could connect to a raspberry pico or arduino? My flowers desperately need answers :D


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littlebig_fox12/08/2024

Hi,

This is real! We started our startup based on this principle. Do note that these emissions do not occur often, think about up to 10-100 per hours in stress states. For a small background read, read this (not our research): https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)00262-3

If you are interested I recommend using a MEMS microphone, sampling at 384 or 500 kHz and triggering at frequencies between 20-200 kHz.

There is several people who have made these solutions for detecting bats using pico's: https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/raspberry-pi-bat-detector-17-0...

If you want something off the shelf look into something like this: https://batsound.com/

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doublerabbit12/08/2024

There was research done, that annoys me I can't find the bookmark. But you can measure communication using fungi as the access point.

It's known that fungi can act as a trading point for plants in that lend some, borrow some when plants are in need. If you hook fungi to a device you can measure communication.

"Trees can communicate with each other through networks in soil. Much like social networks or neural networks, the fungal mycelia of mycorrhizas allow signals to be sent between trees in a forest. These mycorrhizal networks are effectively an information highway, with recent studies demonstrating the exchange of nutritional resources, defence signals and allelochemicals. Sensing and responding to networked signals elicits complex behavioural responses in plants. This ability to communicate ('tree talk') is a foundational process in forest ecosystems."

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4497361/

And would highly recommend this book: https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/entangled-life

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addicted12/08/2024

They are not “communicating” stress. There’s no active action by the plants.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/30/science/plant-sounds-stre...

> To be clear, the sounds made by harried plants are not the same as the anxious mumbling you might utter if you have a big deadline at work. The researchers suspect the nervous, popping noise is instead a byproduct of cavitation, when tiny bubbles burst and produce mini-shock waves inside the plant’s vascular system, not unlike what happens in your joints when you crack your knuckles.

It’s the equivalent of stepping on a twig and knowing how dry it was based on the sound of the snap it makes.

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copperx12/08/2024

If I remember correctly, the frequency is ultrasonic. I'm not having much luck with Google.

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