Echoes of “Avatar”: Spruce Trees Communicate During A Solar Eclipse

All life on Earth reacts to the activity of our local star directly or indirectly – whether it is light for photosynthesis, the driving of short-term weather systems, and long-term climate cycles. Life on Earth also has to contend with radiation sources from beyond our solar system. When the celestial coincidence of a solar eclipse reduces or cuts off light to plants there are ways that these networks interact in response.

This study examines how Spruce trees have the ability to react to solar eclipses and indeed prepare in advance to respond to them. As we search for life on other worlds, we have examined systems orbiting M-dwarf stars in close proximity to one another, often tidally locked where light levels can vary in different ways. How will life evolve within and react to such variations in stellar irradiation?