PLANT PARTNERSHIPS & MUTUALISM

No plant is an island. To survive in a hostile world, plants depend on others. They partner with bacteria to fix nitrogen in soil and trade sugars and minerals with fungal allies underground.

PLANT DEFENSE STRATEGIES

Using volatile organic chemicals as alarm signals, corn, cotton, and tobacco plants can summon parasitic wasps to rescue them from caterpillars. Plants have evolved various strategies to protect themselves.

POLLINATION PARTNERSHIPS

Flowers trade sugars with birds, bats, and bees for genetic longevity. Sweet fruits invite animals to spread seeds. The "corpse flower" mimics rotting flesh to attract carrion flies as pollinators.

COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS

Not all plant relationships are equal. An Amazonian Acacia tree offers ants nectar; in return, ants attack predators and competitors. Recently, botanists discovered the tree laces its nectar with addictive chemicals to control the ants.

PLANTS AS TOOL USERS

Science reporter Zoë Schlanger notes that such relationships show plants wielding other organisms as tools. This is remarkable, as tool use is often considered a metric of intelligence in the animal world.

MUTUALISM AND COOPERATION

Most plant relationships aren't exploitative. Mutualism isn't a sacrifice—cooperation, as much as competition, has enabled the living world to survive and maintain its complexity.

INTERDEPENDENCE WEB

Mutualism creates a web of interdependence across species. Plant reproduction relies on pollinators for mobility; bacteria and fungi depend on plants for sugar. When it works, all thrive.

PLANT COOPERATION

Plants growing near relatives avoid each other's roots, sharing soil nutrients. "Crown shyness" in forests shows trees sharing sunlight. In old growth forests, tall trees pump extra water and carbon to shaded seedlings. Sharing isn't just caring—it's survival.