“Being able to decide based on the neighbour conditions — you may call this intelligent or smart.”

Plant ecologist Katja Tielbörger explains how ecologists turn simple observations into scientific questions and experiments. She describes research on Potentilla reptans that investigates whether plants can make adaptive decisions in response to competition. Using artificial “neighbor” plants that mimic different light conditions, her team shows that genetically identical plants adopt distinct strategies: growing taller, spreading sideways, or producing larger leaves, depending on their surroundings. These responses involve different physiological pathways, suggesting plants actively perceive, compare, and respond to environmental cues. Tielbörger argues that such flexible, context-dependent behavior can reasonably be described as plant intelligence.

Production: Yvonne Volkart
Camera and Editing: Felipe Castelblanco