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Related Experiment Videos

Evidence for complex, collective dynamics and emergent, distributed computation in plants.

David Peak1, Jevin D West, Susanna M Messinger

  • 1Department of Physics, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-4415, USA. peakd@cc.usu.edu

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|January 21, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Plants may perform computation. Research shows stomatal dynamics in cocklebur leaves mirror computational automata, suggesting leaves solve gas exchange through emergent, distributed computation.

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Area of Science:

  • Plant physiology
  • Computational biology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Biological processes are increasingly viewed as computational.
  • Quantitative evidence supporting this view is limited.
  • Plants face complex gas exchange challenges involving stomatal regulation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if plant stomatal dynamics exhibit computational properties.
  • To quantify spatial and temporal correlations in stomatal aperture.
  • To compare these correlations with those found in computational automata.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized chlorophyll fluorescence imaging of Xanthium strumarium L. (cocklebur) leaves.
  • Quantified spatial and temporal correlations in stomatal aperture dynamics.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Compared plant data with correlations from computational automata models.

    • Main Results:

    • Stomatal aperture dynamics in cocklebur leaves showed complex, synchronized patterns.
    • Quantified spatial and temporal correlations were statistically similar to those in computational automata.
    • Plant stomatal behavior aligns with emergent, distributed computation.

    Conclusions:

    • Plant leaves may solve optimal gas exchange problems via computation.
    • Stomatal dynamics provide evidence for biological computation.
    • This research bridges plant physiology and computational theory.