Magnetoreception in Plants

As sessile organisms, plants have evolved both constitutive and inducible responses to the changing environment. Several environmental factors affect plant growth and development. Among them, the Earth magnetic field or geomagnetic field (GMF) is an environmental component of our planet. This chapter highlights some of the basic mechanisms proposed to be involved in plant magnetoreception and summarizes the plant responses to varying MF intensities both dependent and independent from the presence of light. The different mechanisms of magnetoreception include: a mechanism involving radical pairs, which has been demonstrated both in animals and in plants; the presence of MF sensory receptors present in cells containing ferromagnetic particles, as has been shown in magnetotactic bacteria; and the detection of minute electric fields by electroreceptors in the ampullae of Lorenzini in elasmobranch animals.