Do plants possess the ability to count? Clearly, they do not. Nevertheless, a specific form of mathematics has been identified within their processes.
Plants Under the Microscope
A study revealed that plants can precisely calculate the amounts of starch they need to consume at night.1 During the day, through the process of photosynthesis, they produce carbohydrates and store some of them in the form of starch molecules. At night, this starch serves as their food source – they metabolize it, thereby driving cell growth and development. One researcher expressed the following observation:
‘If the starch store is used too fast, plants will starve and stop growing during the night. If the store is used too slowly, some of it will be wasted.’2
Therefore, a plant must regulate its food reserves efficiently, carefully adjusting its metabolic rate to match the amount of starch it consumes at night, when it grows but does not undergo photosynthesis.
Scientists examined this issue by studying a specific variety of mustard, Arabidopsis thaliana. To their surprise, they discovered that the plant follows mathematical principles. Throughout the night, it divides its starch reserves and consumes them at a consistent rate, ensuring they last until dawn. This process is regulated by dynamic information delivered to the cellular control system, including factors such as day length and the amount of available starch.
Experiments showed that the plant performs something akin to arithmetic division. If the process involves the concentrations of two types of molecules—“S” for starch (stimulating starch breakdown) and “T” for time (preventing starch breakdown)—then the rate of starch consumption is determined by the ratio of S molecules to T molecules. In other words, S is divided by T.
Are Plants Intelligent?
Richard Buggs from Queen Mary University of London stated:
‘This is not evidence of plant intelligence. It simply suggests that plants have a mechanism designed for automatically regulating the rate at which carbohydrates are burned at night. Plants do not perform calculations as we do, voluntarily and for a specific purpose.’3
The studies conducted highlight an extraordinary example of bioengineering design. The complexity of living organisms is evident in their precisely coordinated physiological responses to their environments.
Plants are not intelligent, but they have been designed and programmed with intelligence.
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Footnotes
- Scialdone, A. et al., ‘Arabidopsis plants perform arithmetic division to prevent starvation at night’, eLife Sciences, posted June 25, 2013.
- ‘Biological arithmetic: Plants do sums to get through the night’, Science Daily, posted June 24, 2013.
- Briggs, H., ‘Plants “do maths” to control overnight food supplies’, BBC News Science & Environment, posted June 23, 2013.
Based on: J. P. Tomkins, “Plants use math to ration food use”, published on icr.org July 10, 2013.
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