Spatial audio, plant signaling and vegitalismo

A blog dedicated to multichannel audio and sound art installations, plant electrophysiology , biology and the vegitalismo of the Peruvian Amazon

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Latest output :

https://vimeo.com/234689992

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Mychorrizal nodes

This paper shows larger "mother trees" in the ecosystem act as nodes and have more connections to the mychorrhizal network

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.03069.x/full

If Monicas previous paper that plants have memories then by destroying the big trees in the forest network we could be destroying "culture" and "knowledge" stored by these big trees which has been gained over many generations and then passed on - sounds crazy but there is evidence for this.

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Have begun construction of miniature sound installation that interacts with larger sound installation surrounding it. It will be exhibited in Bolivia at the begining of June. Aside from spatial audio aspect, electrical signals in plant roots will trigger sound sin the installation.

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Landmark paper that shows plants have long term memory

http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-mimosa-plants-memory-01695.html

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Genius - plant communication made simple

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Recent sound installation - BBC footage included

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Sonifying the mychorhizal network at forest in sunflower fest soon

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Some speculate that the tribes of the Americas colonialists encountered so many hundreds of years ago were actually not "technologically behind" - a racist belief still in operation in some quarters, but that in fact  in possession of knowledge many years in advance of occidental culture which we are only now catching up with :

Casual Comparison  epidermis of tobacco cells and Shapibo art :

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Extremely fast action potential recorded today in a plant in response to burning a leaf - sorry vegetable world ! Also learnt how to make agar electrodes, the agar forms a jelly which mixed with high concentration salt solution is conductive - will test these tomorrow

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So action potentials may propogate more slowly in some plants - but there is probably evolutionary pressure for fast action potentials such as the ones found in the venus fly trap and others that have not been discovered yet. It is the opinion of the electrophysiologists at LINV  that action potentials found in plants of 270m/s are anything but instrumention error however.

It is time to invest in a cheap usb dtat aquisition board and instrumentation amplifier - but which one ? I need to get the signal from the board to max msp . Plant > instrumentation amplifier > data aquisition board (DAQ) > MaxMSP

These guys have been really helpful :  http://pleased-fp7.eu/?page_id=81

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So if action potentials in animals and nerves are discreet values , like on off , or morse code, with stable voltages, whereas plant action potentials vary more in values what does this imply ? Are subtler  ion fluxes in plants more important that such largescale voltage peaks as action potentials ?

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Now I am here :

http://www.linv.org/

The worlds only plant neurobiology laboratory !

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So - we are not the  most complex lifeform on the planet after all. Not by a long shot.

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Overview of Plant electrophysiology and its potential to create sonic art

http://www.pdfhost.net/index.php?Action=Download&File=338296f48fa85b357c17ffddebdb5dde

This paper presents a brief overview of plant electrophysiology and looks at some interesting recent research in the area of plant neurobiology.

Action potentials have been detected both in the root systems of plants [i] and the mycelia of fungi [ii]. Some research has been conducted on electrical activity in the myzcorrhizal network [iii] Another paper showed “action potentials in fungal mycelia signalling the availability of nutrients at the tips of hyphal chords” [iv]. However despite this tantalising data , to the authors knowledge no research has been done on whether action potentials can cross from the root systems of plants to the mycelia and back to the roots of other trees via the Arbuscular mycorrhizal network. Converting the electrical potentials into light and surround sound installations by amplifying them and feeding them into a computer program in situ presents exciting opportunities to bridge the gap between the sciences and art.  Spectacular audio visual installations that make tangible these hitherto unseen aspects of complex electrical plant activity have the potential to engage the public and alter the way they perceive the biosphere of which they form a part. The challenge for the artist is to create something they find  aesthetic pleasingly yet at the same time ensure the signals are measured correctly , that the integrity of the signals are maintained .

[i] Baluška, František, et al. "Root apices as plant command centres: the unique ‘brain-like’status of the root apex transition zone." Biologia (Bratisl.) 59.Suppl 13 (2004): 1-13.

[ii]   Olsson, S, Hansson, BS (1995) Action potential-like activity found in fungal mycelia is sensitive to stimulation.. Naturwissenschaften 82: pp. 30-31

[iii] Berbara, R. L. L., et al. "Electrical currents associated with arbuscular mycorrhizal interactions." New phytologist 129.3 (2006): 433-438.

[iv] Olsson, S., and B. S. Hansson. "Action potential-like activity found in fungal mycelia is sensitive to stimulation." Naturwissenschaften 82.1 (1995): 30-31.

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The WFS system at the Sunflower festival