Do hapaxanthic (esp. monocarpic) plants commit suicide? Can a plant commit suicide? Are the majority of agaves, pandans etc. suicidal then? Absolutely not! Then why is Tahina spectabilis, this beautiful and unique Madagascan palm, referred to with such attributes by respected authors in seminal scientific journals (Oryx 51: 205-206, 2017) and online platforms of renowned institutions (Kew blog)? It seems that there is an intention of creating media and public attention by purposely using unacceptable negative connotations. A questionable marketing strategy!
The act of voluntarily and intentionally terminating one's own life is a particularly human "choice" and neither plants nor any animal other than humans engage in this behavior. We should discourage the use of inappropriate common names for organisms that rather deserve to be treated with respect by scientists, institutional press offices, and the media. Our values, intentions and motivations are reflected in our choice of words! This is definitely the wrong attribute, the wrong word, and the wrongest name for this plant ... and should be banned !
Theodor:
You are absolutely right in pointing out that a newly discovered and critically endangered giant Palm species Tahina spectabilis has been inappropriately branded as suicidal. However, the Nature must obey necessity - Shakespeare: what is actually the scientific reason for this unique behavior?
Best
Syed
Yes it is true. This new species of palm which flowers spectacularly once in its long life and then dies.
http://www.palms.org/palmsjournal/2008/v52n1p31-39.pdf
Arvind and Theodor:
How do we explain a similar post flowering death of a Bamboo Plant where to our relief "SUICIDE" term is not used? However, certain Rodents do seem to indulge in mass suicide (?a scientific Myth).
Best
Syed
Dear Dr. Syed Abbas Jafar Sir,
In bamboo, death is attributed to reproductive exhaustion caused by the movement of food reserves from the vegetative parts. Please have a look at this useful link.
http://www.pdn.ac.lk/cjsbs/text/text35.2.1.pdf
Regards
There's not a lot of molecular or developmental detail known about the basis for monocarpy (semelparity), though some of us are plugging away on trying to gain some understanding. As Arvind points out, complete allocation of resources to current reproduction at the expense of somatic maintenance -- and not some sort of programmed death -- seems to be a major part of the answer. In other words, monocarpy may be largely one extreme of a set of life history trade-offs and not fundamentally a discrete trait. In plants, this likely involves fates of meristems as well as energetic resources. There's been a lot of theoretical and empirical research over the decades on how natural selection would favor different life history strategies under different circumstances. From a more developmental perspective, Howard Thomas has written several nice reviews on this topic in plants over the years.
David:
Reproductive exhaustion seems to be a rather vague explanation not supported by concrete evidence. However, what a strange coincidence to be observed in several animal species including female Octopus perishing soon after hatching of eggs (See this link please). Any explanation for this?
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Speculation_about_Why_a_female_octopus_dies_after_her_eggs_are_hatched
I agree that "reproductive exhaustion" might not be the best term, and the "exhausted" resources may be more developmental than energetic in many cases. In the case of Tahina, this is likely the case, as the apical meristem apparently transitions to a single terminal inflorescence, leaving it no further vegetative meristems from which to keep growing. I won't begin to speculate on the octopus species -- that's outside my expertise!
It is perfectly clear and correct his assertion, because the same could be said of almost all insects, if not all, that live a larval life, sometimes many years, and then become an adult insect (reproductive form) through the process of metamorphosis, and once the reproduction is done in a short time they die; some in a few hours. Describing this ending as "suicidal transformation" would be nonsense and not knowing anything about Biology, which, sadly, is becoming more frequent. We are at a time when the abdication of thought and rationality is frequent.
An interesting and wide-ranging philosophical discussion! A Darwinian interpretation is that parental death after concentrating resources in some species (insects, salmon, squid, octopus, and the plants mentioned) gives a reproductive advantage. (The "suicide" of lemmings is a well-discounted Disney misinterpretation of population crashs, with cause(s) that I think are still (after much study Charles J. Krebs) not fully understood).
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