Desert Rhubarb is First Known Self-Irrigating Plant
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Related subjects: Environment & Ecology, Global, Harvest & Food Supply, Middle East, Science & Technology, Water: a Global Crisis Comments Off
A variety of desert rhubarb, indigenous to the deserts of Israel and Jordan, is the world’s first identified “self-irrigating” plant. The broad green leaves of the plant are unique in the harsh arid climate, and have been found to benefit from a system of water distribution which speeds rainwater down into the soil, toward the roots of the plant, by way of channels along the exterior of the leaves’ veins, lubricated by a substance that keeps the rainwater moving.
Perhaps the most astounding aspect of this discovery is the degree to which the plant’s unique water-channeling strategy out-performs the local average. Researchers from the University of Haifa-Oranim have found that water flowing down from the desert rhubarb’s leaves penetrates 10 times further down into the soil than in the plant’s surroundings and effectively provides the plant with the equivalent of an enriched ecological bubble. As reported by Wired magazine:
“Even in the slightest rains,” the researchers wrote, “the typical plant harvests more than 4,300 cubic centimeters of water per year and enjoys a water regime of about 427 millimeters per year, equivalent to the water supply in a Mediterranean climate.”
This means the plant is one of the most efficient naturally occurring irrigation systems observed to counter harsh desert conditions like those found in Israel and Jordan. Its efficiency has the effect of fundamentally altering its relationship with the scarce resources of the local environment. There could be lessons in its structure and in the chemical make-up of its leaves, for producing better and more efficient irrigation systems and even closed water-resourcing service systems.
The discovery is of uncertain value: while it shows an apparent evolutionary adaptation that allows this plant to thrive in the parched terrain of its habitat, specific applications for the technical specifics of its structure are not immediately apparent. What is clear is that plants have structural innovations that are designed to help ensure survival, and that the communication of upper extremities with root-structure is key to these innovations.
Since the reporting of this discovery, there has been debate about the significance of the find. Wired, for instance, added a comment from a plant ecologist from the University of Arizona named Lindy Brigham. Brigham noted that the leaf-structure of many plants appears optimized to help direct water flow toward the base of the plant and its root-structure.
The desert rhubarb has a unique approach to the problem, and performs impressively in a forbidding climate, but many plants have features that perform similar functions, to increase water intake over chance soil filtration. For some systems ecologists and green economic thinkers, the plant is an example of optimized scarcity thinking, finding abundance by multiplying the net effect of a broadly scarce resource.
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