Yes . . . they too would like to sleep after a long day under the sun. So, it would respectful to not disturb them by plucking a leaf or flower at night. Studies on shape changes among trees at night revealed that naps are imperative.
Most living beings adapt their behaviour to the day-night cycle. Plants are no exception! Flowers open during the morning and some leaves of trees shut during the night. Even though researchers have been studying the day-night cycle in plants since long, nobody could tell whether trees actually sleep at night.
A team of researchers from Austria, Hungary and Finland measured the movement of a fully grown tree at night using laser scanners.
“Our results show that the whole tree droops during night, which can be seen as position change in leaves and branches,” Eetu Puttonen from the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute was quoted by Jagran Post.
“The changes are not too large, only up to 10 cm for trees with a height of about 5 metres, but they were systematic and well within the accuracy of our instruments,” Puttonen added.
To rule out the effects of weather and location, the experiment was done twice with two different trees. The first tree was surveyed in Finland and the other in Austria. Both tests were done close to solar equinox under calm conditions with no wind or condensation.
The study revealed that the leaves and branches drooped gradually to the lowest point a couple of hours before sunrise. In the morning, the trees returned to their original position within a few hours. Meanwhile, it was not clear whether the trees are ‘woken up’ by the sun or by their internal cycle.
The findings appeared in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.
