Researchers Discover Trees Have A 'Heartbeat' Too

April 24, 2018

Researchers have found that many trees move their branches up and down at night, suggesting they have a pulse.

trees are pumping water like a heart
Magnolia Tree

One of the most important processes sustaining life on Earth is the transport of water from the ground and into the leaves where the photosynthesis and capture of the sun's energy takes place.

The process has fascinated scientists for centuries and is still debated in plant physiology. Scientists generally agree that water transport is driven by light and consequently occurs in 24 hours cycles.

But it was only recently discovered that some other trees also lower their branches by up to 10 centimeters at night and then raise them back up in the morning. These branch movements are slow and subtle, and take place at night, which makes them difficult to identify with the naked eye. However, terrestrial laser scanning, a 3-dimensional surveying technique developed for precision mapping of buildings, makes it possible to measure the exact position of branches and leaves.

A team of researchers from Denmark and Hungary used this technique to conduct an experiment. They brought twenty-two individual tree and shrub species together and scanned them overnight under strictly controlled conditions. They were surprised by the results.

"We detected a previously unknown periodic movement of up to one centimeter in cycles of two to six hours. The movement has to be connected to variations in water pressure within the plants, and this effectively means that the tree is pumping. Water transport is not just a steady-state flow, as we previously assumed," said András Zlinszky of Aarhus University.

The most striking finding was that all the studied plants displayed pulses of minute periodic movement overnight. This was particularly striking in the Magnolia tree, which completed three full cycles of up-and-down branch or leaf movement during one night.

The exact role and mechanism of this process will be studied further, but these findings definitely challenge the widespread view of trees as static, passive organisms.

Click Here For The Most Popular On Sunny Skyz

feel good videoCouple Rescues Prairie Dog From Their Dog's Mouth, Then Decides To Adopt It

feel good storiesThese Are The Movie Scenes People Say Are Absolutely Flawless

feel good storiesJudge Waives Parking Fines So Dad Can Keep Supporting Son’s Space Dreams

feel good storiesHungry Elephant Casually Walks Into Grocery Store For Snacks In Thailand

feel good storiesWild Orcas Keep Giving Humans Gifts, Leaving Experts Puzzled

feel good storiesWe Can’t Stop Looking At These Adorable Baby Loon Photos Taken On A Lake

feel good videoThe Funniest Dog Reactions To Hearing 'Walk' — You’ll Be Laughing Out Loud

feel good videoArtist Creates Mesmerizing Optical Illusion Using Just A Marker And A Spinning Wheel

feel good videoHero Dog Named RAMBO Scares Off Masked Robbers To Save Woman

feel good videoUPS Driver Joins Teenagers On Graduation Slip ’N Slide

feel good video'Two Pure Souls': Dog Warms Stranger's Heart At Lacrosse Game

Chris Filippou 12:17 PM (3 minutes ago) to me