Plants can spot family members and are more hospitable to family than strangers

Dr Susan Dudley, Associate Professor of Biology at McMaster University has made an amazing discovery. Plants happily share space and resources with family members. On the other hand with strangers of the same species, the plants turn fiercely competitive.

Dr Dudley and her research student Amanda File observed the behavior in a species of sea rocket whose Latin name is Cakile edentula.

Says Dr Dudley, "The ability to recognize and favor kin is common in animals, but this is the first time it has been shown in plants. When plants share their pots, they get competitive and start growing more roots, which allows them to grab water and mineral nutrients before their neighbors get them.

It appears, though, that they only do this when sharing a pot with unrelated plants; when they share a pot with family, they don't increase their root growth. Because differences between groups of strangers and groups of siblings only occurred when they shared a pot, the root interactions may provide a cue for kin recognition."

The team have published their findings in the current issue of Biology Letters

source : http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/story.cfm?id=4754