Plants: Adaptive Behavior, Root Brains and Minimal Cognition 1 Introduction

In recent years, the topic of plant intelligence has triggered ample discussion among plant scientists, especially when cast under the label of plant neurobiology therein). According to plant neurobiology, it is both claimed (and challenged in turn) that plants exhibit intelligent behavior, and that they possess internal control structures in many ways functionally similar to neuron-based control structures. So far, this debate has gone largely unnoticed within the field of (animal) adaptive behavior and embodied cognition. However, we hope it becomes clear in the foregoing why this work is highly relevant for research on adaptive behavior and embodied cognition more generally. For one thing, it furnishes researches with a whole new set of relevant phenomena that deserves attention. In addition, by departing from textbook examples of intelligence and adaptive behavior, its theoretical importance in