This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Wednesday 16 March 2022
Anaethetised Plants?
Some plants, like the Venus flytrap, respond rapidly to capture insects. Although plants lack a nervous system, these responses can be anaethetised with ether (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/mar/16/plantwatch-plants-anaesthetised). The Venus flytrap grows in nitrogen-poor locations (bogs) and augments its nitrates by 'digesting' insects. When the insect touches a sensitive trigger hair, an impulse is sent to the other parts of the trap, closing it. The flytrap trigger hairs uniquely have glutamate receptors, not unlike the neurotransmitters, used by animals to jump the synapses (gaps) between nerve cells (neurones). This seems to be the mechanism blocked by ether in anaethetised Venus flytraps. Impulses in Venus flytraps are, however, unlikely to be 'electrical'. In deed, the nerve impulse in animals is not electrical. It's actually a 'wave of depolarisation', generated by movements of ions.
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