Do plants move?

[omega 616]

When I was in school, I was taught mnemonic that lets you remember what the object needs to be alive, it was "mrs nerg" (or mrs gren) Movement; Respiration; Sensation; Growth; Reproduction; Excretion; Nutrition.

Now, I somehow got into a "heated discussion" about this and plants ... after looking round the net (aka page 1 of google) There seems to be a split.

Either plants are alive and move, movement isn't a necessity or plants don't move.

Doesn't video this prove plants move and that movement is a necessity?

What is your take on this highly controversial topic, that is on the forefront of everyone's mind?

 

[madwarper]

I suppose it would depend on how much movement one needs to qualify as plant movement.

Obviously, they aren't any Ents. A tree is not going to get up and stroll to the other side of the forest.
But, there are trees that turn their leaves over in anticipation of rain.

 

[Spambot 3000]

Sure they move but how much movement is required before it's counted as a quality of a living thing? Does it need to displace so many metres? Does it need to do simple appendage movement? Particle motion?

 

[omega 616]

Sure they move but how much movement is required before it's counted as a quality of a living thing? Does it need to displace so many metres? Does it need to do simple appendage movement? Particle motion?

I would have thought the above video would count as enough.

If not what about things like the venus fly trap and Mimosa pudica?

I am going to make a generalization, I think it depends on where you were taught science ... In the UK, it's a "yeah, 100%" and in the US "it's no, don't be daft".

Wonder if it will hold up...?

 

[Spambot 3000]

Sure they move but how much movement is required before it's counted as a quality of a living thing? Does it need to displace so many metres? Does it need to do simple appendage movement? Particle motion?

I would have thought the above video would count as enough.

If not what about things like the venus fly trap and Mimosa pudica?

I am going to make a generalization, I think it depends on where you were taught science ... In the UK, it's a "yeah, 100%" and in the US "it's no, don't be daft".

Wonder if it will hold up...?

I would say the movement in the video counts as enough too. I'm sure someone out there would disagree and say that plants need to move from point A to point B for it to classify as movement (well at least that's what I'm assuming someone would say if they disagreed). Seems like a rather arbitrary reason to me, but I don't know if this whole thing has really been something that the scientific community has decided on and defined a prerequisite.

 

[uchytjes]

I have the perfect video for this! Here is a timelapse of a vine growing:but I feel that the problem isn't that plants move or don't move, its that the definition of "life" may not be comprehensive enough. Actually, I remember a scene in the book "The Andromeda Strain" about this very subject. The scene (if memory doesn't fail) involved a scientist claiming that a rock he had just found laying about was alive. He then went on to claim several things about it, but the thing I remember is that he claimed "it has such a long life cycle that it is impossible to tell whether it is moving or not. What may seem like years to us may just be a mere nanosecond to this rock" or something like that.

 

[Comocat]

Change movement with response and you're fine. Plants respond to their environment in a myriad of ways, they just don't have legs. Plants that move in response to physical stimuli is called thigmotropism.

 

[FireAza]

A few carnivorous plants move. Venus fly traps need to be fast movers to trap their pray and cape sundews will slowly wrap around pray.

 

[omega 616]

A few carnivorous plants move. Venus fly traps need to be fast movers to trap their pray and cape sundews will slowly wrap around pray.

Yeah, there is also a plant that closes when you touch it, Mimosa pudica ... quite a cool plant to be honest.

I just struggle to think why anybody would deny that plants move or that movement isn't a requirement of life.

 

[Angie7F]

I think so. Actualy, I never thought that anyone would think that it wouldnt.

 

[IndomitableSam]

Yup. They follow the sun, grow around things to provide the best stability and light access. Also, if you have a lot of plants in your house, sometimes you'll see the plants shake. Something's finally grown enough or shifted enough that some tension breaks and it moves. Kind of a surprise sometimes to all of a sudden see a plant shiver. But awesome.

Try taking a plant you keep in your window and turning the pot around. The leaved should have all been facing the window before, and a few hours to a day or so later, they'll all have moved back to facing the light.

... I do that for fun, sometimes. And to make the plants stand up a bit straighter.

 

[mad825]

Mrs Nerg? I thought it was Mrs Gren.

M Movement
R Respiration
S Sensitivity

G Growth
R Reproduction
E Excretion
N Nutrition

I would say the saying is flawed before any matter. What happened to the I for intelligence? Mrs Gren or Nerg can explain a car for example.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

Just to throw it in, some plants (definitely ferns, possibly some others, my biodiversity class was a long time ago) produce motile sperm cells (morphologically similar to animal sperm). So at least some plants don't need a discussion on "what constitutes movement" to be said to move.

EDIT: Also, there are non-motile bacteria and fungi. The specific requirement for "movement" seems a bit weird.

 

[omega 616]

Mrs Nerg? I thought it was Mrs Gren.

M Movement
R Respiration
S Sensitivity

G Growth
R Reproduction
E Excretion
N Nutrition

I would say the saying is flawed before any matter. What happened to the I for intelligence? Mrs Gren or Nerg can explain a car for example.

Well nerg is gren backwards, so it works either way ... I said this in the first line of this thread.

Mrs nerg can explain cars? Cars can reproduce? Cars can Grow?

... I do that for fun, sometimes. And to make the plants stand up a bit straighter.

Did you just admit to trolling plants? Hahaha! You monster!

 

[unindexedsearchengine]

Well, according to my classmates, I myself am a plant. Trust me, their logic is infallible. Anyway, so, if my testimony is worth anything, then yes, we plants do indeed move at times. But only if absolutely necessary. We're a lazy bunch. Uprooting is just such an effort, especially on monday mornings.

 

[The Last Nomad]

Of course plants move. They move when they grow, and they continue to move towards the light after they stop growing.
And then there are flowering plants that open and close their petals at different times of the day.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I suppose it would depend on how much movement one needs to qualify as plant movement.

Obviously, they aren't any Ents. A tree is not going to get up and stroll to the other side of the forest.
But, there are trees that turn their leaves over in anticipation of rain.

There is a walking tree, technically. Its a stilt palm that moves from its original germination point in the event of treefall damages (e.g. another tree falls and knocks it down). But still its no Ent.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Highly controversial topic? It's only controversial if you've somehow managed to never hear of sunflowers, or venus flytraps...

 

[Mullac]

Yeah, they move, they definitely move.

Not only does the 'MRS GREN' thing say so, but you can see it. Sunflowers. They rotate all day to face the sun.