Scientists have made big strides in understanding how plants communicate with each other. Could this help solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges?

Imagine the tranquillity of a stroll through the woods on a still day. It may seem quiet, but the forest is bustling with conversation all around: in the leaves, under the soil, and even in the air. The plants are talking - and soon, we might just know what they’re saying. A research team led by American university Purdue has begun translating the complex language of flowers. Is this the year that we harness the language of nature to address pressing global challenges such as food security and the climate crisis?

We’ve known for some time that one way plants send distress signals to each other is via volatile organic compounds (VOCs), tiny invisible chemicals that float in the air. For example, the distinct smell of a pine forest is actually pine trees releasing VOCs to convey information, such as warnings about pests nearby so that other plants can prepare their defences.

However, the exact ways that plants detect and respond to these signals is still mostly unknown. It’s like visiting a busy cafe in a foreign country; people are talking but it’s not clear what any of it means.

This might be starting to change. In a major discovery, the Purdue-led team has found that petunias have a specific receptor that can detect a particular type of VOC called a sesquiterpene. It's like having a nose that can only smell roses in a room full of different flowers. This ‘nose’ helps the petunia understand the warning message and prepare its defenses against potential attacks.

What's particularly interesting is that this ‘nose’ is incredibly selective – it only detects this specific sesquiterpene and ignores all the other scents around it, ensuring that the petunia receives the right message and doesn't get confused by other smells. This discovery helps us start to understand the intricate ways plants communicate and protect themselves in their environment.

This isn’t the only recent breakthrough in plant communication research. Earlier in 2024, communication between two plants was captured on video for the first time ever in a study conducted by a Japanese research team. The footage showed plants responding to the signal of other plants being attacked, demonstrating how they prepare their defences.

New technologies in disciplines like plant electrophysiology – the study of electrical signals that plants use to communicate – combined with artificial intelligence, are providing scientists with new tools to monitor, analyse and even manipulate communication in species such as venus fly traps and tomato plants. This allows for real-time monitoring of plant stress responses to pests, diseases and nutrient deficiencies.

The field could be reaching a tipping point as commercial applications are starting to emerge. For example, Swiss startup Vivent has demonstrated how to use plant electrophysiology to monitor plant health in real time, detecting if plant roots had been infected by tiny worms called nematodes well before visible symptoms appeared.

Translating plant language could be a game changer for agriculture. Vivent’s work shows it could enable early detection of pest and disease infestations, reducing reliance on chemicals.

Understanding plant communication could also optimise resource use, leading to more efficient and sustainable farming practices. A team of UK farmers known as the Soil Squad is working with researchers at the Crop Science Centre to understand the potential of boosting crop performance by encouraging the formation of natural mycorrhizal fungi networks. These networks act as an underground communication system, allowing plants to exchange nutrients and potentially other information.

Preliminary findings, (albeit from a small sample), indicate that organic and regenerative farming practices, which minimise soil disturbance, could lead to significantly denser fungi networks forming. This suggests a greater potential for nutrient exchange activity between plants, leading to healthier crops and potentially reducing the need for artificial inputs.

These advances could also facilitate the development of more resilient ecosystems. For example, scientists are exploring mint species that emit resistance-enhancing volatiles for soybean crops, showing the potential of using companion planting to create a natural defence system against pests.

The broader implications for the climate and environment are that by understanding plant communications, we can develop agricultural practices that are less resource-intensive and require fewer synthetic inputs than current approaches, which contribute significant greenhouse gas emissions. We can also understand how plants react to environmental stresses, such as drought and pollution, to inform our strategies for climate change adaptation. This might include better-timed irrigation or genetically engineering more resilient crops.

Our understanding of plant communications has accelerated rapidly in recent years, but existing research has barely scratched the surface of this field. There is limited understanding of how plants communicate through their different channels, whether VOCs, electrical signals or fungal networks. We also don’t know how communications vary between different plant species. More work is needed to apply lab findings to real-world situations.

Despite these challenges, translating the language of plants holds huge potential. With continued investment in research and innovation, 2025 could be the year that we unlock nature’s wisdom to address some of humanity’s most pressing problems.