ELI5 Talking Grass - Why does the smell of freshly mowed grass release chemicals to warn of oncoming danger?

ELI5 Explain Like I'm 5: Bite sized answers to stuff you should know about - in a mini podcast

Did you know that the smell of freshly mowed grass is chemically warning other grass of oncoming danger? Why is this the case? Especially since there is nothing grass can do in response?

... We explain like i'm five!

Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community, and specifically the following reddit users whose questions and responses formed the basis of this conversation: fantheories101, cardboard-cutout, rawseeds, coconut-telegraph, concise_pirate, epistatic & foxmetropolis

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