Have you ever had a friend who has helped you out with something, and it’s become a whole lot easier and quicker? Let’s say you’re making a big dinner for your friends. If one person chops all your onions, another gets the table ready, and another boils your pasta for you, that means you can focus on cooking, and once dinner is ready, both you and your friends get to enjoy the delicious food!
The exact same process happens in nature between plants and micro-organisms. There are lots of exchanges going on all the time which are called symbiotic relationships. A helpful way to think of these relationships is that plants have lots of friends helping out with different tasks they need help with, and in return, the plants supply their friends with food, nutrients and shelter.
I think this is pretty amazing! When I heard about this process for the first time – I was intrigued straight away. I had been a bit scared of science in high school – I was not great at things like maths or chemistry. But I was always excited by growing plants and learning more about them. Eventually I decided to study plant science at university, and that is where I first heard about these helpful symbiotic relationships. I was immediately hooked!! This process made me excited to learn about how exactly plants can form these friendships.
There’s a particular example of a helpful friendship between plants and soil bacteria that blows me away every time. Did you know that legumes (like peas and beans) produce structures called nodules, which act as houses for soil bacteria? Inside these houses, the plant provides the bacteria with food. In exchange, the bacteria helps the plant out by giving it crucial nutrients. I’d call that a pretty helpful friendship!
What’s interesting is that these relationships are happening between two completely different organisms – plants and bacteria. We still don’t know exactly how legumes evolved to allow this relationship to happen. I’m interested in uncovering these mysteries to learn how plants use the power of friendship to grow!
