How plants use chemical signals to navigate light and gravity
In short: Plants cannot move like animals, but they possess a sophisticated internal navigation system. This video explains how hormones called auxins allow plants to sense their environment and grow strategically toward resources or away from obstacles.
The primary mechanism behind these movements is the distribution of auxins, which are produced in shoot and root tips. These hormones diffuse through plant tissues to create uneven growth rates. In shoots, auxins stimulate growth; however, in roots, they actually inhibit it.
This chemical imbalance results in tropisms: positive phototropism (growing toward light) in shoots and negative phototropism in roots. Similarly, plants respond to gravity through geotropism, where shoots exhibit negative geotropism by growing upward, while roots show positive geotropism by growing downward.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: GCSE Biology - Plant Hormones - Tropisms & Auxins
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