It certainly doesn't seem that way.

はっきりいって そのようには見えないですよね

Plants don't have complex sensory or nervous systems like animals do, and they look pretty passive, basking in the sun, and responding instinctively to inputs like light and water.

植物には動物のような 複雑な知覚 神経組織はなく

But odd as it sounds, plants can communicate with each other.

ただ受動的にそこにいて 太陽の光を浴び

Just like animals, plants produce all kinds of chemical signals in response to their environments, and they can share those signals with each other, especially when they're under attack.

ただ受動的にそこにいて 太陽の光を浴び

These signals take two routes: through the air, and through the soil.

光や水などによる刺激に対し 本能的に 反応しているだけのように見えます

When plant leaves get damaged, whether by hungry insects or an invading lawn mower, they release plumes of volatile chemicals.

しかし不思議なことに 植物も互いに交信できるのです

They're what's responsible for the smell of freshly-cut grass.

動物たちと同様 植物も 環境に対応した

Certain kinds of plants, like sagebrush and lima beans, are able to pick up on those airborne messages and adjust their own internal chemistry accordingly.

さまざまな化学信号を発信し

In one experiment, sagebrush leaves were deliberately damaged by insects or scissor-wielding scientists.

特に危険に晒されている時には 互いに信号を伝え合っています

Throughout the summer, other branches on the same sagebrush plant got eaten less by insects wandering through, and so did branches on neighboring bushes, suggesting that they had beefed up their anti-insect defenses.

特に危険に晒されている時には 互いに信号を伝え合っています

Even moving the air from above a clipped plant to another one made the second plant more insect-resistant.

そういった信号の経路は 二つあります

These airborne cues increase the likelihood of seedling survival, and made adult plants produce more new branches and flowers.

空気を介する風媒と

But why would a plant warn its neighbors of danger, especially if they're competing for resources?

そして土を介する方法です

Well, it might be an accidental consequence of a self-defense mechanism.

例えば お腹を空かせた昆虫の攻撃とか

Plants can't move information through their bodies as easily as we can, especially if water is scarce.

あるいは草刈機の侵略によって 植物の葉が負傷したとき

So plants may rely on those airborne chemicals to get messages from one part of a plant to another.

彼らは揮発性物質を放出します

Nearby plants can eavesdrop on those signals, like overhearing your neighbor sneeze and stocking up on cold medicine.

切ったばかりの草の爽やかな香りは その揮発性物質が理由なのです

Different plants convey those warnings using different chemical languages.

例えばヤマヨモギやライマメのように 植物によっては

Individual sagebrush plants in the same meadow release slightly different sets of alarm chemicals.

風媒メッセージを受け取ると

The makeup of that cocktail influences the effectiveness of communication.

その情報に従ってその植物内部の 化学組成を調整します

The more similar two plants' chemical fingerprints are, the more fluently they can communicate.

ある実験で ヤマヨモギの葉に

A plant will be most sensitive to the cues emitted by its own leaves.

昆虫が あるいは科学者が鋏を使ってジョキジョキと 意図的に傷をつけたのです

But because these chemicals seem to be inherited, like human blood types, sagebrush plants communicate more effectively with relatives than with strangers.

その夏中 辺りを飛び回る昆虫からの

But sometimes, even other species can benefit.

そのヤマヨモギの枝への攻撃は少なく

Tomato and tobacco plants can both decipher sagebrush warning signals.

そのヤマヨモギの枝への攻撃は少なく

Plants don't have to rely solely on those airborne broadcasts.

その周りの灌木の枝々も 同様の結果でした

Signals can travel below the soil surface, too.

つまり木々たちは防虫防衛手段を 強化できたということになります

Most plants have a symbiotic relationship with fungi,

伐採された植物の上にあった空気が 他の植物の周りに移動するだけで

which colonize the plants' roots and help them absorb water and nutrients.

後者の植物も防虫効果を 増すことができたのです

These fungal filaments form extensive networks that can connect separate plants, creating an underground super highway for chemical messages.

風媒によって運ばれた情報で 苗の生存の確率が高まり

When a tomato plant responds to blight by activating disease-fighting genes and enzymes, signaling molecules produced by its immune system can travel to a healthy plant, and prompt it to turn on its immune system, too.

成熟した植物はもっと 新しい枝や花を育めます

These advance warnings increase the plants chance of survival.

しかし 周囲の植物 ― 特に 生存競争のライバルにまで

Bean plants also eavesdrop on each other's health through these fungal conduits.

なぜ植物は危険を警告するのでしょうか

An aphid infestation in one plant triggers its neighbor to ramp up production of compounds that repel aphids, and attract aphid-eating wasps.

もしかしたらこれは自己防衛本能が起こす 偶発的なできごとなのかもしれません

If you think of communication as an exchange of information, then plants seem to be active communicators.

私たちのように情報を体内で 伝達することは

They're sending, receiving, and responding to signals without making a sound, and without brains, noses, dictionaries, or the Internet.

水分が欠乏している時には特に 植物にはなかなか容易ではありません

And if we can learn to speak to them on their terms, we may gain a powerful new tool to protect crops and other valuable species.

そのため 植物はその一部位からの情報を また別の部位で受け取るために

It all makes you wonder: what else are we missing?

風媒化学物質に頼ることに なるのでしょう