Can plants and fungi sleep?

Answer

Dear Jan,

You could say that plants can ‘sleep’, although other terms are used to describe plant activity. Plants obtain energy from light through the process of photosynthesis, we speak of ‘light reactions’ because this ‘activity’ can only happen when light is present. The plant also has ‘dark reactions’, not that it has to be dark for these processes to continue, but these reactions are not dependent on light. A plant therefore actively photosynthesizes when the sun shines and when it sets, the plant’s activity changes. Plants die when they run out of light, but when it’s continuous light, it shouldn’t be that much of a problem.

Another kind of ‘sleep’ in plants is ‘dormancy’. This is a technique that plant seeds use to overcome a ‘difficult period’ e.g. drought, cold, lack of light etc. This ensures that e.g. the seed of a tree that is ripe in autumn and falls to the ground does not germinates immediately. If it germinated and there was frost, the young seedlings would die. Due to the winter dormancy of the seeds, they only germinate after they have gone through a cold period. When the conditions: temperature, water, light, etc. improve after the cold period in spring, they only start to germinate.

Fungi (fungi) do not take part in photosynthesis, but they do have spores that can be dormant, e.g. to survive the winter just like seeds of plants.

Hopefully my answer answers your question.

regards,

borrow.