Scientists have been studying plants and how they might communicate with other plants for decades. Since many gardeners talk to their plants, which they think helps them to grow, initial studies were debunked as “____1____ scientists and researchers.” However, recent studies have proven that plants do communicate with other types of plant species, insects, and even ____2____.

While plants do not have neurons, a ____3____, or any other form of communication that animals and humans have, they do have a secret language and the ability to talk through their _____4_____ and certain organic compounds. They have an underground fungi network where they share information with their neighbors. These connected networks can warn others about an insect swarm, communicate nutrient deficiencies, and even send nutrients to a needy plant or tree. When a tree receives the warning, they emit chemicals that _____5____ the insects, which helps keep the tree from being attacked and possibly killed. Other studies have proven that plants also transmit and receive information through a series of chemical and electrical impulses.

When plants are being attacked or eaten, they send out a _____6_____ to the other leaves, which is a combination of a chemical and electrical charge that warns the other leaves to prepare to defend themselves. Researchers discovered that _____7_____ is the electric charge that moves through the plant when it is injured and serves as a warning of a changing environment.

This information helps researchers understand why plants have incredible adaptability to different environments and fantastic survival skills. Some plants can survive in near _____8_____ for long periods, others that can survive a drought or long stretches without water, some can move from one location to another, and others can defend themselves against competing plants by emitting deadly hormones.

Plants can also communicate with insects through _____9_____, which are a large class of organic compounds that produce a fragrance that can both attract and repel certain insects. When a plant is being eaten by an insect that is an herbivores, they release volatiles, which attract  _____10_____ insects which will eat the other bugs. The meat-eating insects come to the aid of the plant quickly and help it from being completely devoured by the plant-eating insect.

Communicating with bats is done quite differently. There are one species of plant called the “____11____ plant” that lures bats to ____12____ in the shade of their leaves by having a unique reflective structure that enables them to send a bat’s ultrasonic call back to them, which allows the bat to distinguish the pitcher plant from others using echolocation. The pitcher plant thrives from the bat ____13____ which is excreted into the plant and acts as a fertilizer.

There is still much to learn about the communication between plants, insects, and certain mammals. But scientists have come a long way over the years understanding how plants are able to thrive in adverse conditions by their secret language of communication. Not considered “loony” anymore by their peers, researchers and scientists have proven what they knew all along.