Jonathan Drori: The beautiful tricks of flowers

Translator: Linda Magáthová Reviewer: Miroslav Čeliga

Do you know

Viete,

how many species of flowering plants there are?

koľko druhov kvitnúcich rastlín existuje?

There are a quarter of a million -- at least those are the ones we know about --

Je ich štvrť milióna, - minimálne tých, o ktorých vieme -

a quarter of a million species of flowering plants.

štvrť milióna kvitnúcich rastlín.

And flowers are a real bugger.

Kvety sú ťažký oriešok.

They're really difficult for plants to produce.

Pre rastliny je naozaj ťažké vytvoriť kvety.

They take an enormous amount of energy and a lot of resources.

Vyžaduje si to obrovské množstvo energie a prostriedkov.

Why would they go to that bother?

Prečo im to za to stojí?

And the answer of course, like so many things in the world,

Odpoveďou je, rovnako ako mnoho ďalších otázok,

is sex.

sex.

I know what's on your mind when you're looking at these pictures.

Viem, čo si pomyslíte pri pohľade na tieto obrázky.

And the reason that sexual reproduction is so important --

Dôvodom, prečo je rozmnožovanie také dôležité –

there are lots of other things that plants can do to reproduce.

je mnoho vecí, ktoré rastliny môžu pre rozmnožovanie robiť.

You can take cuttings;

Môžete použiť štepenie;

they can sort of have sex with themselves;

rastliny môžu mať sex samé so sebou,

they can pollinate themselves.

môžu sa aj opeľovať.

But they really need to spread their genes

Ony ale potrebujú rozšíriť svoje gény,

to mix with other genes

aby sa zmiešali s ostatnými génmi,

so that they can adapt to environmental niches.

čo im umožní prispôsobiť sa okoliu.

Evolution works that way.

Takto funguje evolúcia.

Now the way that plants transmit that information

Spôsob, akým rastliny prenášajú túto informáciu,

is through pollen.

je peľ.

Some of you may have seen some of these pictures before.

Mnohí z vás možno videli niektoré z týchto obrázkov.

As I say, every home should have a scanning electron microscope

Hovorievam, že každý by mal doma mať elektrónový mikroskop,

to be able to see these.

aby to mohol pozorovať.

And there is as many different kinds of pollen

Existuje toľko rôznych druhov peľu,

as there are flowering plants.

koľko existuje kvitnúcich rastlín.

And that's actually rather useful for forensics and so on.

To je užitočné pre súdne lekárstvo, atď.

Most pollen that causes hay fever for us

Väčšina peľu, ktorý nám spôsobuje sennú nádchu,

is from plants that use the wind

je z rastlín, ktoré na rozšírenie peľu

to disseminate the pollen,

používajú vietor.

and that's a very inefficient process,

Je to veľmi neefektívny spôsob,

which is why it gets up our noses so much.

preto sa do našich nosov dostane toľko peľu.

Because you have to chuck out masses and masses of it,

Pretože rastliny musia rozšíriť mnoho peľu

hoping that your sex cells, your male sex cells,

a dúfajú, že ich samčie pohlavné bunky,

which are held within the pollen,

ktoré sú v tomto peli,

will somehow reach another flower just by chance.

sa náhodou dostanú k ďalšej rastline.

So all the grasses, which means all of the cereal crops,

Takže všetky trávy, všetky obilniny

and most of the trees

a väčšina stromov

have wind-borne pollen.

sa opeľuje vetrom.

But most species

Ale väčšina druhov rastlín

actually use insects to do their bidding,

na to používa hmyz.

and that's more intelligent in a way,

A to je svojím spôsobom múdrejšie,

because the pollen, they don't need so much of it.

pretože peľu nie je treba až toľko.

The insects

Hmyz

and other species

a ostatné druhy živočíchov

can take the pollen,

môžu vziať peľ

transfer it directly to where it's required.

a preniesť ho presne tam, kde je treba.

So we're aware, obviously, of the relationship

Takže sme si vedomí vzťahu

between insects and plants.

medzi hmyzom a rastlinami.

There's a symbiotic relationship there,

Je medzi nimi symbiotický vzťah,

whether it's flies or birds or bees,

či už ide o muchy, vtáky, včely,

they're getting something in return,

dostávajú niečo na oplátku,

and that something in return is generally nectar.

všeobecne ide o nektár.

Sometimes that symbiosis

Niekedy táto symbióza viedla

has led to wonderful adaptations --

k úžasným adaptáciám –

the hummingbird hawk-moth

Lišaj marinkový

is beautiful in its adaptation.

je svojou adaptáciou nádherný.

The plant gets something,

Rastlina mu niečo poskytne

and the hawk-moth spreads the pollen somewhere else.

a on rozšíri peľ.

Plants have evolved

Rastliny sa vyvinuli

to create little landing strips here and there

a vytvorili malé „pristávacie dráhy“,

for bees that might have lost their way.

aby sa včely nestratili.

There are markings on many plants

Na mnohých rastlinách sú škvrny,

that look like other insects.

ktoré vyzerajú ako hmyz.

These are the anthers of a lily,

Toto sú prášniky ľalie,

cleverly done

múdro vytvorené tak,

so that when the unsuspecting insect

že nič netušiaci hmyz

lands on it,

na kvetine pristane a rozhýbe prášnik,

the anther flips up and whops it on the back

z ktorého sa peľ dostane

with a great load of pollen that it then goes to another plant with.

na hmyz a ten ho dopraví na ďalšiu rastlinu.

And there's an orchid

A toto je orchidea,

that might look to you as if it's got jaws,

ktoré vyzerá, akoby mala čeľuste.

and in a way, it has; it forces the insect to crawl out,

A v istom zmysle ich má; „čeľuste“ nútia hmyz vyliezť,

getting covered in pollen that it takes somewhere else.

medzitým sa tento hmyz pokryje peľom, ktorý roznesie ďalej.

Orchids: there are 20,000, at least,

Existuje najmenej 20 000 druhov orchideí

species of orchids --

20 000 druhov –

amazingly, amazingly diverse.

nesmierne, nesmierne rozmanitých.

And they get up to all sorts of tricks.

Orchidey majú rôzne triky.

They have to try and attract pollinators

Všetky sa pokúšajú prilákať opeľovače,

to do their bidding.

aby im poslúžili.

This orchid, known as Darwin's orchid,

Táto orchidea sa nazýva orchidea Darwinova,

because it's one that he studied

pretože ju skúmal Darwin

and made a wonderful prediction when he saw it --

a urobil úžasnú predpoveď.

you can see that there's a very long nectar tube

Vidíte, že má dlhú kvetnú rúrku,

that descends down

ktorá zostupuje

from the orchid.

z orchidey.

And basically what the insect has to do --

A hmyz musí urobiť –

we're in the middle of the flower --

sme uprostred kvetu –

it has to stick its little proboscis

musí vsunúť svoj sosák

right into the middle of that

priamo do stredu

and all the way down that nectar tube

a celou dĺžkou do rúrky,

to get to the nectar.

aby získal nektár.

And Darwin said, looking at this flower,

Darwin sa pozrel na tento kvet a povedal:

"I guess something has coevolved with this."

„Myslím, že niečo sa s týmto vyvinulo spoločne. “

And sure enough,

A naozaj,

there's the insect.

toto je ten hmyz.

And I mean, normally it kind of rolls it away,

Bežne je sosák zvinutý,

but in its erect form,

ale vo svojej natiahnutej podobe

that's what it looks like.

vyzerá takto.

Now you can imagine

Môžete si predstaviť,

that if nectar

že ak

is such a valuable thing

je nektár tak cenný

and expensive for the plant to produce

a nákladný na výrobu,

and it attracts lots of pollinators,

a ak priláka mnoho opeľovačov,

then, just as in human sex,

potom, rovnako ako pri sexe u ľudí,

people might start to deceive.

prichádza na rad klamanie.

They might say, "I've got a bit of nectar. Do you want to come and get it?"

Môžem napríklad povedať: „Mám trochu nektáru. Chceš?“

Now this is a plant.

Toto je rastlina.

This is a plant here

Toto je rastlina,

that insects in South Africa just love,

ktorú juhoafrický hmyz jednoducho miluje.

and they've evolved with a long proboscis

Hmyzu sa vyvinuli dlhé sosáky,

to get the nectar at the bottom.

aby dosiahol na nektár.

And this is the mimic.

A toto je imitátor.

So this is a plant that is mimicking the first plant.

Ide o rastlinu, ktorá tú prvú napodobňuje.

And here is the long-probosced fly

A toto je mucha s dlhým sosákom,

that has not gotten any nectar from the mimic,

ktorá z imitátora samozrejme žiadny nektár nedostala.

because the mimic doesn't give it any nectar. It thought it would get some.

Pretože imitátor žiadny nektár nemá. Muchu oklamali.

So not only has the fly

Takže mucha nezíska nektár,

not got the nectar from the mimic plant,

a ešte k tomu má na sebe,

it's also -- if you look very closely

ak sa dobre pozriete,

just at the head end, you can see that it's got a bit of pollen

peľ na hlave,

that it would be transmitting to another plant,

ktorý by dopravila na inú rastlinu,

if only some botanist hadn't come along

ak by ju nejaký botanik

and stuck it to a blue piece of card.

neprepichol ihlou a neprišpendlil na modrý papier.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

Now deceit carries on through the plant kingdom.

Týmto sa klamanie v ríši rastlín nekončí.

This flower with its black dots:

Táto kvetina s čiernymi bodkami:

they might look like black dots to us,

pre nás vyzerajú ako čierne bodky,

but if I tell you, to a male insect of the right species,

ale pre samčeky istého druhu

that looks like two females

vyzerajú ako dve

who are really, really hot to trot.

veľmi sexy samičky.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

And when the insect gets there and lands on it,

Hmyz, ktorý tu pristane,

dousing itself in pollen, of course, that it's going to take to another plant,

je obalený peľom, ktorý potom premiestni na ďalšiu rastlinu,

if you look at the every-home-should-have-one scanning electron microscope picture,

ak sa pozriete cez rastrovací elektrónový mikroskop,

you can see that there are actually some patterning there,

uvidíte určitý vzor,

which is three-dimensional.

ktorý je trojrozmerný.

So it probably even feels good for the insect,

Takže pre hmyz je to príjemné ako na dotyk,

as well as looking good.

tak na pohľad.

And these electron microscope pictures --

A tieto obrázky z mikroskopu –

here's one of an orchid mimicking an insect --

tu je obrázok orchidey napodobňujúcej hmyz –

you can see that different parts of the structure

je vidieť, že rôzne časti kvetu

have different colors and different textures to our eye,

majú rôzne zafarbenie a štruktúru,

have very, very different textures

hmyz vidí rozdielnosť štruktúry

to what an insect might perceive.

ešte omnoho lepšie.

And this one is evolved to mimic

Tento kvet sa vyvinul tak, aby napodobnil

a glossy metallic surface

kovovo lesklý povrch

you see on some beetles.

pozorovateľný na niektorých chrobákoch.

And under the scanning electron microscope,

A pod rastrovacím elektrónovým mikroskopom

you can see the surface there --

môžete vidieť povrch,

really quite different from the other surfaces we looked at.

ktorý je veľmi odlišný od povrchov, ktoré sme videli doteraz.

Sometimes the whole plant

Niekedy rastlina napodobňujúca hmyz

mimics an insect, even to us.

zmätie aj nás.

I mean, I think that looks like some sort of flying animal or beast.

Zdá sa mi, že toto vyzerá ako nejaké lietajúce zviera.

It's a wonderful, amazing thing.

Je to úžasné.

This one's clever. It's called obsidian.

Táto je prešibaná. Volá sa Heuchera americká.

I think of it as insidium sometimes.

Je tak trochu záludná.

To the right species of bee,

Určitému druhu včiel

this looks like another very aggressive bee,

pripomína veľmi agresívnu včelu,

and it goes and bonks it on the head lots and lots of times to try and drive it away,

snažia sa teda na ňu útočiť

a pritom sa na ne prichytí peľ.

and, of course, covers itself with pollen.

The other thing it does

Táto orchidea tiež napodobňuje

is that this plant mimics another orchid

inú orchideu, ktorá je bohatá

that has a wonderful store

na potravu

of food for insects.

pre hmyz.

And this one doesn't have anything for them.

Táto mu nemá čo ponúknuť.

So it's deceiving on two levels --

Takže klame na dvoch frontách –

fabulous.

úžasné.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

Here we see ylang ylang,

Toto je ylang-ylang,

the component of many perfumes.

súčasť mnohých parfémov.

I actually smelt someone with some on earlier.

Na niekom som aj tu cítil parfém s ylang-ylangom.

And the flowers don't really have to be that gaudy.

Ich vôňa nie je taká jednoznačná.

They're sending out a fantastic array of scent

Vysielajú úžasnú škálu vôní

to any insect that'll have it.

pre rôzne druhy hmyzu.

This one doesn't smell so good.

Táto kvetina veľmi nevonia.

This is a flower

Ide o kvet,

that really, really smells pretty nasty

ktorý páchne naozaj hnusne

and is designed, again, evolved,

a bol navrhnutý, teda, vyvinul sa,

to look like carrion.

aby vyzeral ako zdochlina.

So flies love this.

Takže muchy ju milujú.

They fly in and they pollinate.

Vletia dovnútra a opeľujú.

This, which is helicodiceros,

Toto je Helicodiceros,

is also known as dead horse arum.

tiež známy ako Áron mŕtveho koňa.

I don't know what a dead horse actually smells like,

Netuším, ako páchne mŕtvy kôň,

but this one probably smells pretty much like it.

ale táto rastlina zrejme páchne podobne.

It's really horrible.

Je to fakt príšerné.

And blowflies just can't help themselves.

A mucha si nemôže pomôcť.

They fly into this thing,

Vletí do kvetu

and they fly all the way down it.

až na dno.

They lay their eggs in it,

Myslí si, že to je zdochlina

thinking it's a nice bit of carrion,

a tak tu znesie vajíčka,

and not realizing that there's no food for the eggs, that the eggs are going to die,

ale nevie, že tu nie je pre vajíčka potrava, takže čoskoro zahynú.

but the plant, meanwhile, has benefited,

Ale rastlina prosperuje,

because the bristles release

pretože štetiny sa uvoľnia

and the flies disappear

a muchy zmiznú,

to pollinate the next flower -- fantastic.

a opeľujú tak ďalšiu rastlinu, fantastické.

Here's arum, arum maculatum,

Toto je Áron škvrnitý,

"lords and ladies," or "cuckoo-pint" in this country.

v tejto krajine známy ako "lords and ladies" alebo "cuckoo-pint".

I photographed this thing last week in Dorset.

Vyfotil som ho minulý týždeň v Dorsete.

This thing heats up

Dokáže sa zahriať

by about 15 degrees above ambient temperature --

o približne 15 °C nad teplotu okolia,

amazing.

úžasné.

And if you look down into it,

A keď sa pozriete do kvetu,

there's this sort of dam past the spadix,

v tulci sa nachádza taká jamová oblasť,

flies get attracted by the heat --

teplo priláka mušky,

which is boiling off volatile chemicals, little midges --

ktoré odparuje prchavé látky,

and they get trapped underneath in this container.

a mušky uviaznu v tejto jamke.

They drink this fabulous nectar

Mušky potom pijú tento úžasný nektár,

and then they're all a bit sticky.

a sú ulepené.

At night they get covered in pollen,

V noci sa obalia peľom,

which showers down over them,

ktorý na nich spadne

and then the bristles that we saw above,

a potom štetiny z predchádzajúcej fotky

they sort of wilt and allow all these midges out, covered in pollen --

povolia a dovolia peľom obaleným muškám uniknúť.

fabulous thing.

Skvelá vec.

Now if you think that's fabulous, this is one of my great favorites.

Ak sa vám toto zdalo úžasné, teraz uvidíte jedno z mojich obľúbených.

This is the philodendron selloum.

Toto je Philodendron selloum.

For anyone here from Brazil, you'll know about this plant.

Ak je niekto z vás z Brazílie, určite túto rastlinu poznáte.

This is the most amazing thing.

Je to naozaj úžasná rastlina.

That sort of phallic bit there

Tento akoby falus

is about a foot long.

je dlhý asi 0,3 metra.

And it does something

A robí niečo,

that no other plant that I know of does,

čo žiadna mne známa rastlina nedokáže.

and that is that when it flowers --

V rozkvete, po dobu asi dvoch dní –

that's the spadix in the middle there --

kvetenstvo je to uprostred –

for a period of about two days,

robí niečo podobné

it metabolizes in a way

metabolizuje,

which is rather similar to mammals.

čo je typické pre cicavce.

So instead of having starch,

Takže namiesto škrobu,

which is the food of plants,

čo je výživa rastlín,

it takes something rather similar to brown fat

táto využíva niečo podobné hnedému tukovému tkanivu

and burns it at such a rate

a spaľuje ho tak rýchlo,

that it's burning fat, metabolizing,

že trávi rovnako rýchlo

about the rate of a small cat.

ako malá mačka.

And that's twice the energy output, weight for weight,

A to je dvojnásobok výdaja energie

than a hummingbird --

kolibríka.

absolutely astonishing.

Neskutočné.

This thing does something else which is unusual.

Táto rastlina robí ďalšiu neobvyklú vec.

Not only will it raise itself to 115 Fahrenheit,

Nielen, že dokáže zvýšiť svoju teplotu na 115 stupňov Fahrenheita,

43 or 44 degrees Centigrade, for two days,

43 alebo 44 °C po dobu dvoch dní,

but it keeps constant temperature.

ale dokáže tú teplotu udržať.

There's a thermoregulation mechanism in there

Má v sebe termoregulačný mechanizmus,

that keeps constant temperature.

ktorý udržiava stálu teplotu.

"Now why does it do this," I hear you ask.

Asi sa pýtate, prečo to robia?

Now wouldn't you know it,

Už to ale asi tušíte,

there's some beetles that just love to make love at that temperature.

existujú totiž chrobáky, ktoré sa pri tejto teplote radi pária.

And they get inside, and they get it all on.

Takže vlezú dovnútra a idú na to.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

And the plant showers them with pollen,

Rastlina ich zasype peľom

and off they go and pollinate.

a hmyz ho opäť roznesie.

And what a wonderful thing it is.

Je to úžasná vec.

Now most pollinators

Keď sa povie opeľovač,

that we think about are insects,

predstavíme si hmyz,

but actually in the tropics,

ale v trópoch opeľujú

many birds and butterflies pollinate.

aj vtáky a motýle.

A preto je mnoho tropických kvetov červených,

And many of the tropical flowers are red,

and that's because butterflies and birds

pretože motýle a vtáky

see similarly to us, we think,

zrejme vidia podobne ako ľudia,

and can see the color red very well.

vidia dobre červenú farbu.

But if you look at the spectrum,

Keď sa pozrieme na farebné spektrum,

birds and us, we see red, green and blue

vtáky a my vidíme červenú, zelenú a modrú,

and see that spectrum.

takže naše spektrum vyzerá takto.

Insects see green, blue and ultraviolet,

Hmyz vidí zelenú, modrú a ultrafialovú,

and they see various shades of ultraviolet.

vidí rôzne odtiene ultrafialovej.

So there's something that goes on off the end there.

Takže vidí niečo, čo leží za pravým koncom.

"And wouldn't it be great if we could somehow see what that is," I hear you ask.

Asi sa pýtate: „Nebolo by super, keby sme videli to, čo oni?“

Well yes we can.

Môžeme.

So what is an insect seeing?

Takže, čo vidí hmyz?

Minulý týždeň som v Dorsete urobil tieto fotky

Last week I took these pictures of rock rose,

helianthemum, in Dorset.

devätorníka - Helianthemum.

These are little yellow flowers like we all see,

Sú to žlté kvety,

little yellow flowers all over the place.

ktoré ľahko zahliadnete kdekoľvek.

And this is what it looks like with visible light.

Takto ich vidíte pri normálnom svetle.

This is what it looks like if you take out the red.

Takto vyzerajú, kým neodstránite červenú.

Most bees don't perceive red.

Väčšina včiel totiž nevidí červenú farbu.

And then I put some ultraviolet filters on my camera

Potom som na fotoaparát nasadil UV filter

and took a very, very long exposure

a urobil snímku s dlhou expozíciou,

with the particular frequencies of ultraviolet light

zachytávajúcu určité frekvencie ultrafialového svetla.

and this is what I got.

A toto je výsledok.

And that's a real fantastic bull's eye.

A to je naozaj trefa do čierneho.

Now we don't know

Nevieme,

exactly what a bee sees,

čo presne včela vidí,

any more than you know what I'm seeing

presne ako vy neviete, čo vidím ja,

when I call this red.

keď poviem, že toto je červená.

We can't know what's going on in -- let alone an insect's --

Nevieme, čo vidí človek,

another human being's mind.

nieto ešte hmyz.

But the contrast will look something like that,

Ale kontrast bude podobný tomuto.

so standing out a lot from the background.

Teda, kvet je výrazný oproti pozadiu.

Here's another little flower --

Tu je ďalšia malá kvetina –

different range of ultraviolet frequencies,

iný rozsah ultrafialových frekvencií,

different filters

iné filtre,

to match the pollinators.

aby kvet prilákal správne opeľovače.

And that's the sort of thing that it would be seeing.

Takže opeľovače vidia niečo podobné tomuto.

Just in case you think

V prípade, že si myslíte,

that all yellow flowers have this property --

že všetky žlté kvety majú túto vlastnosť –

no flower was damaged in the process of this shot;

počas fotenia nebola poškodená žiadna kvetina,

it was just attached to the tripod,

bola len pripevnená k statívu,

not killed --

nebola zničená –

then under ultraviolet light,

pod ultrafialovým svetlom

look at that.

vyzerá takto.

And that could be the basis of a sunscreen

Kvet by sa teda mohol použiť na výrobu opaľovacieho krému,

because sunscreens work by absorbing ultraviolet light.

pretože opaľovacie krémy pohlcujú UV svetlo.

So maybe the chemical in that would be useful.

Chemikálie v tomto kvete teda môžu byť užitočné.

Finally, there's one of evening primrose

A nakoniec, tu je jedna prvosienka,

that Bjorn Rorslett from Norway sent me --

ktorú mi poslal Bjorn Rorslett z Nórska -

fantastic hidden pattern.

krásne schovaný vzor.

And I love the idea of something hidden.

Páči sa mi myšlienka ukrytých vecí.

I think there's something poetic here,

Zdá sa mi to také poetické.

that these pictures taken with ultraviolet filter,

Tieto obrázky boli fotené s UV filtrom,

the main use of that filter

hlavné využitie týchto filtrov

is for astronomers to take pictures of Venus --

je pri fotení snímkov Venuše –

actually the clouds of Venus.

konkrétne mrakov Venuše.

That's the main use of that filter.

To je hlavné využitie týchto filtrov.

Venus, of course, is the god of love and fertility,

Venuša je známa ako bohyňa lásky a plodnosti,

which is the flower story.

čo zapadá do príbehu o kvetinách.

And just as flowers spend a lot of effort

Takže kým sa kvety usilujú

trying to get pollinators to do their bidding,

o prilákanie opeľovačov,

they've also somehow managed to persuade us to plant great fields full of them

podarilo sa im presvedčiť nás, aby sme sadili celé polia,

and give them to each other

a aby sme ich darovali sami sebe

at times of birth and death,

pri príležitosti narodenia či smrti,

and particularly at marriage,

a hlavne pri príležitosti svadby,

which, when you think of it,

čo je, keď sa nad tým zamyslíte,

is the moment that encapsulates

moment, ktorý symbolizuje

the transfer of genetic material

prenos genetického materiálu

from one organism to another.

z jedného organizmu na druhý.

Thank you very much.

Ďakujem pekne.

(Applause)

(potlesk)