[APD] Re: Closing up for the night - or Nyctinasty

[Clint Brearley <clint_brearley at telstra_com>]

Charley Bay wrote:
> As far as the biochemical change in plants driving
> nictinasty, yes, several bioactive substances have
> been identified that regulate leaf movement, and some

What about this hypothesis. Perhaps during the day, stem plants stretch out their leaves so that they receive as much light as possible for photosynthesis. To do this the plants may need to actively transport biochemicals to certain areas of the leaf in order to make them move (which uses energy, but the trade-off is that much more energy is gained in return via photosynthesis). Then when either the plants have gained enough energy or when the lights go out, which ever occurs first, the plants may stop transporting the biochemicals causing the leafs to close up, which is possibly just a lower energy position. This is only speculation, but it kinda makes some sense (doesn't it?)

Clint Brearley
Melbourne, Australia

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