In the article, “The Intelligent Plant”, Pollan, a Journalism lecturer from the University of California, Berkley, elaborates on diverse scientific approaches advanced by different researchers in their attempt to demonstrate that plants are active and as such, exhibit aspects of intelligence and behavioral responses to their environment. The current paper focuses on the plant signaling and communication experiment by Rick Karban, an ecologist from U.C. Davis who demonstrated different ways through which plants exchanged communication in their natural environments. Additionally, the paper demonstrates the different ways in which the experiment by Karban adopted the hypothetical method.
According to Hurley and Watson, the term hypothesis denotes a supposition or conjecture that tries to provide an explanation for a given unknown. The authors note that a researcher develops hypotheses and proceeds to draw implications through hypothetical reasoning process in four key phases: problem occurrence; hypotheses formulation; drawing implications from the hypotheses and testing the implications. Consequently, the four key phases are argued to be demonstrated in Karban’s plant communication experiment.
While discoveries regarding the communication of plants had already been demonstrated in laboratories in the eighties through the isolation of plants and the analysis of their chemical emissions using Plexiglas chambers, Karban was however interested in demonstrating plant communication in their natural environmental settings. As such, he devised an experiment where he used plastic flags to mark ninety-nine sagebrush plants which would later be observed under different conditions.
In the experiment, Karban proceeded to clip part of the leaves from the marked plants insinuating an insect attack while other plant leaves were left untouched. The results of the experiment would later reveal that upon clipping part of the leaves of the sagebrush plants, neighboring plants that had not been clipped were seen to suffer significantly less damage throughout the season. Using the hypothetical method, the action of the preservation of neighboring leaves from insect attacks introduced the occurrence of the problem. Consequently, Karban would develop several hypotheses in an effort to explain the occurrences.
One hypothesis formulated was that the clipping action on some of the leaves of the sage brush triggered the release of volatile chemicals which would act as a signal alerting neighboring plants of an impending pest attack. As a result, the latter would adequately prepare for the attack by releasing chemicals that would ward off pests. Karban’s hypothesis advanced the notion that plants could communicate with one another citing higher responses among closely related plant species.
Karban’s experiment suitably employed the hypothetical method since all four phases were demonstrated. In the first phase, the preservation of the neighboring sagebrush plant leaves that had not been clipped introduced the problem in the experiment. Subsequently, Karban considered the observation and hypothesized that the unclipped leaves had received communication from their marked counterparts thereby enabling them to survive over the long duration. Alternative hypotheses that could be formulated in the scenario included the possibility that there lacked such association between neighboring plants. In the third phase, Karban proceeded to test the hypothesis that had earlier insinuated communication between the related sagebrush plants. The results would reveal that chemicals released from clipped plants led to the preservation of the neighboring counterparts. The final phase that showed the release of chemicals thereby testing the implications.
Pollan notes that one of Karban’s collaborators, James Blande, an English chemical ecologist, proceeded to tie plastic bags that had been filled with filtered air around the sagebrush stems. After a short duration, the researcher would collect the gas and analyze it in the laboratory where it was revealed that there existed numerous chemical components in the plastic bags. Pollan notes that upon smelling the given gas, it exuded a smell close to that of aftershave. The author would later assert that plants in their seemingly inactive and motionless states, were indeed active and would communicate with one another. The four different phases of the hypothetical method had been demonstrated through empirical observation as repeating the experiment under different conditions would reveal similar results.
In later studies, different researchers would confirm Karban’s hypothesis regarding plant communication and signaling. For instance, Van Loon (286-294) would later reveal that the sessile nature of plants resulted in numerous adaptations including intelligent behavior where plants would memorize previous experiences in their attempt to deal with different types of stresses and attacks by creating a balance with defensive actions. Pollan would further reveal that research into plant behavior had been conducted by diverse researchers who demonstrated habituation behavior among different plants. The author noted that Monica Gagliano had attempted to demonstrate aspects of intelligent habituation in Mimosa Pudica, commonly known as the Venus flytrap. In her experiment, Gagliano had revealed that plants would be able to illustrate animal-like learning capabilities where after numerous applications of a given action, the plant assumed that it would not cause any destructive harm.
Karban’s experiment would also be argued to demonstrate aspects of adequacy, internal and external coherence, and fruitfulness. To begin with, the adequacy aspect delineates the aspect of unity between the facts and hypothesis formulated (Hurley and Watson). In the experiment, Karban hypothesized that the reason why neighboring unmarked sagebrush leaves demonstrated higher survival rates compared to their counterparts was due to some form of communication emanating from the clipped leaves. While the occurrence had been existent in nature, possible communication fit perfectly with the given facts.
Internal coherence denotes the extent to which the components of a given hypothesis are connected in a rational manner while external consistency describes the notion where the given hypothesis does not disagree with other hypotheses that have been confirmed (Hurley and Watson). Internal coherence was achieved in the experiment since Karban’s idea of plant signaling through communication demonstrated rationale as plants are known to release numerous chemicals through their metabolic reactions.
Consequently, Karban’s approach of having some sort of communication was rational as chemicals are released frequently. Similarly, external consistency was achieved as plants have been identified to respond to different environmental changes given their sessile nature (Van Loon 286-294). Finally, the experiment demonstrated fruitfulness as it suggested that chemicals play a fundamental role in plant signaling and communication unlike diverse adaptions that arise from environmental response.
Various shortcomings are associated with the hypothetical method. First, given that hypotheses are speculations, this implies that there can exists as many possible explanations as possible for a given problem. As such, this leads to an increase in expenses as the researcher attempts to test the hypotheses. Secondly, despite confirmation of given hypotheses, this does not prove that the theory is correct. Longuenesse argues that the hypothetical method is based on the concept of cause where intuition is determined with respect to given judgment. However, it is important to note that hypotheses are significant in bringing about new knowledge especially when similar findings are obtained by different researchers.
In addition, aspects of objectivity and personal bias are also seen to affect the hypothetical method. It is argued that most of the experiences that scientists go through have an influence in forming their beliefs. Consequently, this leads to personal bias in interpreting different empirical observations. However, by adopting integrity, such bias is significantly reduced. Researchers are required to be independent of the material they study in order to enable replicability under different scenarios. In the event that they fail to adhere to integrity, this leads to discrediting their work. Pollan highlights an example of such occurrences where experiments by Cleve Backster, a CIA polygraph expert, involving the generation of electrical activity in fruits and plants using polygraphs were discredited as numerous scientists were unable to replicate the findings Backster revealed.
In conclusion, it is argued that Karban’s experiment was deductive and led to fruitfulness as it showed that chemical releases by plants led to significant signaling and communication. Additionally, numerous studies conducted after revealed similar findings among plant species. Consequently, the study emphasizes on the importance of certainty in theory as researchers attempt to build new knowledge. The experiment is also argued to conform to the scientific method as it has been seen to follow a stepwise approach from problem identification and hypotheses formulation to testing the given hypothesis and creating new knowledge. Additionally, it adhered to the requirements for adequacy, internal and external consistency and fruitfulness.
References
Hurley, Patrick J, and Lori Watson. A Concise Introduction To Logic. 13th ed. Boston MA: Cengage Learning, 2016. Print.
Longuenesse, Béatrice. Kant On The Human Standpoint. Modern European Philosophy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.
Pollan, Michael. "The Intelligent Plant." The New Yorker. N.p., 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2018.
Van Loon, Leendert C. "The Intelligent Behavior Of Plants." Trends in Plant Science 21.4 (2016): 286-294. Web. 22 Feb. 2018.
