ALL Plants Have Color Vision?!

Thanks to the ASCEND project for partnering with us on this video!

Plants can tell when competitors are nearby because they can *see* them.

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Shade avoidance: changes in plant body form and function that occur in response to the light signals provided by neighboring vegetation
- Photoreceptors: light-sensitive proteins involved in the sensing and response to light in a variety of organisms
- Far-red light: light at the extreme red end of the visible spectrum, just before infrared light (wavelength of ~700 to 750 nm)

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CREDITS
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Kate Yoshida | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Arcadi Garcia i Rius | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

OUR STAFF
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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke
Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes
Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich
Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

OUR LINKS
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REFERENCES
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[MoonGlow]

Therapist: Minute earth stick figures with eyes are not real, they cant hurt you
Minute earth stick figures with eyes: 2:31

[efrenchen]

2:27 Well damn, wasn’t hoping to get jumpscared by MinuteEarth today

[koukaakiva]

The avatar opening its eyes at the end of the video implies that it has always had eyes and just kept them shut. I find this slightly unsettling for some reason.

[Ggdivhjkjl]

Thanks for explaining why the plant on the corner keeps trying to grow away from the tall tree near it.

[PLScypion]

Biblically accurate trees with eyes in cartoon style were not on my bingo card today...

[ancbi]

Fun fact: there is a derived measurement you can calculate from satellite images called NDVI that really good at distinguishing plants from other objects. NDVI is essentially the difference between near-infrared and red normalized by how bright the total is. (far-red and near-infrared is kind of similar) So this is utilizing the same signature "colour" of plant leaves as mentioned in the video.

[ginavong]

I work in a plant light research lab and we’re taking some high school summer interns this year. I will use this video to introduce them to the topic - thanks!

[freighttrainjohnson]

a harmless marigold: What a lovely spot to take root

the oak tree 12ft away: I need to make acorns in July

[garg]

I remember hearing once that if you were to paint your walls a different color, any plants you have will take notice. And to me that made sense.

Plants depend on light to survive, as we all know, and can even reposition themselves depending on what direction light is coming from, so it makes sense that they’re able to detect differences between light and dark. But for them to have actual color vision is truly extraordinary

[zap-]

I felt that plants were aware of their surroundings and intentionally react to them! I just didn’t know how complicated their awareness could be, so cool!

[MesonoxianMethuselah]

Love all the Pokémon references in the first minute.

[SporkleBM]

oh omg as someone who loves eldrich critters with many eyes
im loving the illustrations in this video

[Auroral_Anomaly]

All plants and animals, etc… in an ecosystem will balance each other through competition, but at the same time work together to keep things moving forward, make collective decisions, and protect each other. I think that is beautiful.

[chelseawilliams]

2 things

1. That visual of a tree with a bunch of eyes GAGGED me. New sleep paralysis demon unlocked.

2. It both comforts and terrifies me that the trees are territorial too.

[germanomagnone]

amazing, I never thought that plants are not only beautiful to the eye, but have an "eye" for too many neighbors in the "neighborhood"

[davidtitanium]

Never thought that plants can sense light, but of course they can, they grow towards the direction of the sun! They must have some kind of photoreceptors, but the fact that they differentiate color to choose what they do next is still amazing

[waterfrost]

Torchic is included, already love this video and I took a whole botany course and this wasn’t covered

[bosstowndynamics]

Fun fact, the same colour effects are used in forest surveys - false colour infrared photography can be used to light up vegetation. If you've ever seen photos with a wild red hue on the plants there's a pretty good chance they're either taken with, or at least based on the aesthetic popularised by, aerochrome, a film used for this purpose back before digital took over

[Soken]

Wow, I knew that trees could avoid/outgrow eachother but it never occured to me they could SEE eachother and that is the reason they do so, it both fascinates and terrifies me. Thanks!

[jgr]

Plants can see.
Plants can feel pain.
Plants can help or hinder each other.
Plants not reacting like animals doesn't mean they don't react.