All plants need water in order to grow. In desert environments, however, water is especially scarce. One way that some desert plants attempt to secure an adequate water supply is by maintaining a certain distance between themselves and other plants that might try to compete for the same water. They maintain this distance through a process known as root communication. That is, the roots of one plant communicate with the roots of another plant in order to control the amount of distance separating them. In this way, the communicating plant is able to protect its precious water supply.