The Intelligent Behavior of Plants

Plants are as adept as animals and humans in reacting effectively to their ever-changing environment. Of necessity, their sessile nature requires specific adaptations, but their cells possess a network-type communication system with emerging properties at the level of the organ or entire plant. The specific adjustments in growth and development of plants can be taken to represent behavior. Their ability to learn from experience and to memorize previous experiences in order to optimize fitness allows effective acclimation to environmental stresses and can be considered a form of intelligence. Intelligent behavior is exemplified by the exceptional versatility of plants to deal with abiotic stresses as well as microbial and insect attack by balancing appropriate defensive reactions.

TrendsParticularly in the past decade, there has been an ongoing debate whether plants exhibit ‘behavior’ and express ‘intelligence’.Definitions of ‘behavior’ and ‘intelligence’ vary. Intuitively we think of these terms as referring exclusively to humans, but essentially they describe the ability of organisms to respond to environmental challenges in such a way as to optimize fitness. Plants have similar properties.Because plants are sessile, they have to cope with various types of biotic and abiotic stresses in their environment, and possess elaborate, dynamic mechanisms to adjust their growth and development accordingly.