Plant Efficiency
Though the struggle is invisible to unaided human eyes, neighboring plants engage in intense, slow-motion competition. The figure above comes from a study of how plants -- in this case, Arabidopsis thaliana, a standard lab model of plant physiology -- detect shade, helping them direct growth towards light. The figure spans one month of development, with representative Arabidopsis individuals arrayed above their real-world garden plot.
Citation: "Plant neighbor detection through touching leaf tips precedes phytochrome signals." By Mieke de Wita, Wouter Kegge, Jochem B. Evers, Marleen H. Vergeer-van Eijk, Paulien Gankema, Laurentius A. C. J. Voesenek, and Ronald Pierik. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 20 August 2012.
Image: de Wita et al./PNAS (Larger image)