Electrically charged insects/plants

[MarkE]

“Plants are usually charged negatively and emit weak electric fields. On their side, bees acquire a positive charge as they fly through the air. No spark is produced as a charged bee approaches a charged flower, but a small electric force builds up that can potentially convey information. The flower's potential changes and remains so for several minutes".
Link

 

My question is: does this account for all plants/trees? And what about other insects than bees? Are there more examples of this electrical attraction between (sea) plants and pollinators?

Edited January 29, 2015 by MarkE

[John Cuthber]

I rather suspect that most plants are quite well earthed, so if they have a net charge they must be using energy to maintain it. I can't find the paper. is there a link to it somewhere?

I'd like to see how the charge was measured.

[MarkE]

I rather suspect that most plants are quite well earthed, so if they have a net charge they must be using energy to maintain it. I can't find the paper. is there a link to it somewhere?

I'd like to see how the charge was measured.

 

Paper: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6128/66

[andrewcellini]

http://is.muni.cz/el/1431/podzim2013/Bi7630/um/Nemcova_Cmelaci_a_elektricka_pole_kvetu_Science.pdf - the full paper, not just the abstract.

 

pretty neat stuff.

Edited January 30, 2015 by andrewcellini

[MarkE]

I'd like to hear your thought about this. I guess it is the fact that the insect is flying that causes the charge. But then how does a plant, or even a spider's web ( http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/2812/20130705/spider-webs-react-electrically-charged-insects-increasing-capture-chances-video.htm ) become charged negatively, and emits (from where?) its electrical field?

[Endy0816]

 

He explained that bees have a positive electrical charge because they fly in air, which is full of all kinds of tiny particles, such as dust and charged molecules. Friction from these particles causes bees to lose electrons, leaving bumblebees positively charged.

 

Flowers, on the other hand, "are electrically connected to ground," he said. Unlike copper wire, which transfers charges very quickly, plants conduct electricity very slowly and tend to possess a negative charge.

http://io9.com/5986189/flowers-communicate-with-electricity

 

Not sure on spider webs probably something similar though.

[Bill Angel]

I'd like to hear your thought about this. I guess it is the fact that the insect is flying that causes the charge. But then how does a plant, or even a spider's web ( http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/2812/20130705/spider-webs-react-electrically-charged-insects-increasing-capture-chances-video.htm ) become charged negatively, and emits (from where?) its electrical field?

The discussion about spider's webs is interesting, as is the assertion that " rapid thread deformation [of the web due to insect's electrical charge] enhances the likelihood of physical contact, and thus of prey capture."

But I'm skeptical about the paper's conclusion, that the effect has an impact on prey capture rates.

The flight path of insects like flies is highly erratic. They don't have to be attracted to a sticky surface or thread, or have the thread deform, to get trapped by it. I have had a problem with fly infestations in my bedroom, and a couple of strips of sticky long flypaper suspended from the ceiling are VERY effective in clearing the room of these insects. The reason is that these flies are executing a three dimensional random walk all over the room, and with time will encounter these long sticky strips, even though these strips' areas (their collision cross sections, i.e. their length times their width) is miniscule compared to the total volume of the room.

Edited February 4, 2015 by Bill Angel

[Endy0816]

There are dry capture webs out there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cribellum

 

One of the videos I saw before was similar to this:

 

You can see the web moving towards the oppositely charged insect. Interesting to ponder at any rate.