“Why do trees not stop growing?”, Jigyasa asks!

Jigyasa and Utsuka were going through Utsuka’s photo album when they realized something: Utsuka had barely grown a foot taller in a few years, whereas the tree in their backyard had grown several feet. This made them wonder why trees continue to grow in height, unlike us.

What is growth? What drives trees to grow? Do trees grow all the time? Listen to the episode to learn about the tale of how trees grow.

Towards the end, they reach an interesting question: what happens if all trees grow to the same height? To explore that question, they talk with Dr. Vinita Gowda, a plant scientist from the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal. After answering their curious question about trees, she shares with them why she loves plants so much.

We’re sure that Utuska and Jigyasa’s conversations would have made you ask questions. You can leave them on our website https://www.indiaaskswhy.org/contact/, and we’ll pick them up :)

References

1. NCERT Class 11. Plant Growth and Development
2. EurekAlert! “How Plants Become Good Neighbors in Times of Stress.” Accessed March 12, 2022. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/526169.
3. “Chapter 25: Plant Growth—Patterns, Limitations and Models – Inanimate Life.” Accessed March 12, 2022. https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/botany/chapter/plant-growth-patterns-limitations-and-model/.
4. Fouracre, Jim P., and Richard Scott Poethig. “Lonely at the Top? Regulation of Shoot Apical Meristem Activity by Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors.” Current Opinion in Plant Biology 58 (December 2020): 17–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbi.2020.08.008.
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shade_avoidance
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxin
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_development)