How would you explain one of these studies to a younger student? Write about one of them. Use three important science words. To help your reader understand these words, use context clues, or clue words.

Question

Mysteries of the Plant World
News: Science Scene

A leaf has a tiny green mouth? Plants make strange popping noises?

Scientists say they do. The mouth and popping noises are part of two different important studies about plants. These studies could one day help feed the planet.

Some scientists in California came out with a video of the green mouth in December 2022. The mouth is actually a tiny opening called a stoma. Scientists knew that plants have thousands of stomata per leaf. Now people can see a stoma in action.

Scientists also knew that stomata take in carbon dioxide from the air. The carbon dioxide combines with water drawn up from the plant's roots. Then, the plant uses sunlight to turn the two ingredients into nutrients that help it grow. But there's a problem. When stomata open to let in the carbon dioxide, some water escapes. This can dry out a plant. So, stomata must stay open long enough to let in enough carbon dioxide. But they must close before the plant loses too much water.

How do stomata balance these two things? Each stoma has proteins. These determine the level of carbon dioxide present in the environment. When there's a small amount, the stoma needs to stay open longer. That way it can take in what the plant needs. One protein signals the stoma to do so. The study found that when the carbon dioxide level is high, a pair of different proteins blocks that signal. This makes the stoma close sooner. That's how the plant keeps as much water as possible.

Knowing how stomata work will allow scientists to create new crops. These will be able to survive two problems of a planet that's heating up: more droughts and higher levels of carbon dioxide.

The second study, the one with the popping plants, came out in March 2023. Researchers placed ultrasound microphones near the plants in different settings. Then they stopped watering some of the plants. And they cut the stems off others. These plants made several pops per hour. They sounded like popcorn being popped. The scientists could tell what caused the pops among different plants.

The sounds do not mean that the plants were in pain. Scientists believe that the pops are likely caused by air bubbles. These form when water from the roots goes to the leaves. Humans can't hear the sounds. However, insects and animals probably can. So, an animal looking for a plant dinner might hear the popping. That would tell it to choose a juicier plant.

Using ultrasound devices to hear these sounds might help farmers. They could know which crops are most in need of watering. This knowledge would be especially useful in a drought. And so, from the secret lives of plants may blossom ways to improve human life in a changing environment.

Answer 1

Understanding Stomata: The Tiny Green Mouths of Plants

Did you know that plants have little green mouths? Well, sort of! These tiny openings are called stomata (pronounced: stoh-mah-tah), and they play a crucial role in how plants breathe and drink. Just like we inhale and exhale, plants use stomata to take in a special gas called carbon dioxide (pronounced: kar-buhl diox-eed) from the air. This gas is really important because plants need it to make their food using sunlight, a process known as photosynthesis (pronounced: fo-toh-sin-thuh-sis).

Here's how it works: when the stomata open, they let in carbon dioxide, but they also allow some water to escape. If too much water escapes, the plant can get too dry and may not survive. So, stomata have to make a smart choice! Scientists found out that stomata have special protein helpers that tell them when to open and close. If there isn’t much carbon dioxide in the air, the stomata stay open longer to take in as much as they can. But when there is plenty of carbon dioxide, the proteins signal the stomata to close quickly, which helps the plant save water.

This discovery is important because it could help scientists create new kinds of crops that can survive tough conditions, like less water (we call this drought) and higher carbon dioxide levels from our changing climate. Understanding how these tiny mouths work is like solving a piece of a big puzzle that helps us learn how to grow more food and keep our plants healthy!