Topic > History of Mimosa Pudica

Mimosa pudica was first identified in Brazil. It is a perennial shrub that is now considered a pantropical invasive weed. Many plant species show two types of movements of anatomical parts. Nyctinastic movements, also known as sleep movements, occur in response to changes in visible light. Seismonastic movements occur in response to other stimuli such as mechanical, thermal, chemical, or electrical ones (Sanberg 1976). Mimosa pudica exhibits both types of movements in the form of flap closing and petiole dropping. Wallace conducted research on environmental factors related to the seismonastic movements of Mimosa pudica. He found that optimal sensitivity is observed at a temperature of 40°C with an apparent response still shown in the range of 14°C to 60°C, with no change in sensitivity observed due to the relative humidity in the environment. Under artificial lightning, with a 14-hour light cycle: 10-hour dark cycle, sensitivity is highest around 5:00 am and lowest at 7:00 pm. The sensitivity of the leaves also decreases with age. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayMimosa pudica displays inducible defenses that are described as behavioral responses initiated only in the presence of a threat. These behaviors, if used by the plant at the right time, provide greater resistance to attacks by herbivores and increase the chances of survival. Mimosa pudica temporarily closes its leaves when touched. The time that the leaves remain closed is called hiding time (Reed-Guy et al., 2017). The leaf-bending behavior exhibited by Mimosa pudica is thought to reduce the risk of predation by scaring off predators due to the rapid closing movement of the leaves, decreasing the visibility of the plant due to closed leaves, decreasing the surface area exposed to predators, and making the most visible thorns. predators (Jensen et al., 2011). Such defense responses incur energetic costs required to reopen the leaflets and also opportunity costs as this causes the plant's photosynthesis rate to decrease by up to 40%, which represents a substantial cost associated with such antipredator behavior (Reed-Guy et to 2017). Plants decide to obtain food based on the availability and distribution of resources. Optimal foraging theory states that an organism faces trade-offs during foraging, and the optimal strategy will be naturally selected during foraging that maximizes fitness by balancing risk and reward. When plants are in a poor quality environment, they will put more effort into foraging, which will expose plants to a greater risk of predation to obtain resources than plants in a good quality environment (Simon et al., 2016) L Habituation is the simplest form of learning that refers to a decrease in response to a repeated stimulus. Habituation can be short or long term depending on the duration of the recall. Mimosa pudica exhibits habituation behavior by initially bending its leaflets, but when repeatedly physically disturbed the plant learns to ignore the stimuli. Plants that grow in environments that require a lot of energy show a more pronounced habit of leaf folding which can last up to a month if the plant is left undisturbed. Such long-lasting persistent habituating behavioral change is similar to the habituation observed in animals. Learning the habituation response allows individuals to pay attention to important stimuli and.