Douglas firs are the most abundant trees in North America. Their ecological niche spans Southern Mexico to the Northern Rockies. Warming Will Reduce Trees’ Ability to Slow Climate Change New research suggests that the most abundant trees in North America absorb less carbon dioxide as the world’s temperature rises. The […]
Animation When cells don’t divide into proper copies of themselves, living things fail to grow as they should. For the first time, scientists now understand how a protein called TANGLED1 can lead to accurate cell division in plants. Inside cells are structures called microtubules, which act like highways for moving […]
Gardenia’s newly sequenced genome highlights how evolutionary tinkering transforms plants into some of nature’s great chemical-makers. Plants are some of nature’s most extraordinary chemists. Unlike animals, they can’t run from predators or pathogens. They can’t uproot themselves to seek out a mate or spread their seeds. So instead, they manufacture […]
An international team of scientists have identified candidate resistance genes that could protect ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a deadly pest that is expected to kill billions of trees worldwide. In the new study, published recently in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers from Queen Mary University of London […]
Two satellite images show vegetation change from fog in two areas of the Namib desert. The left image shows the areas during periods of lower fog; the right image shows the areas during periods of higher fog. Greener areas inside the squares indicate vegetation greening. Credit: Image courtesy of Lixin […]
Mangroves in Tampa, Florida. Credit: Kerrylee Rogers/University of Wollongong Mangrove trees – valuable coastal ecosystems found in Florida and other warm climates – won’t survive sea-level rise by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t reduced, according to a Rutgers co-authored study in the journal Science. Mangrove forests store large amounts of […]
Rhizobia (in blue) in the roots of a plant. The brown structures are plant proteins (colored electron microscope image). Credit: ETH Zurich / Anne-Greet Bittermann Plants need nitrogen in the form of ammonium if they are to grow. In the case of a great many cultivated plants, farmers are obliged […]
An aerial view of a tropical forest along the eastern Pacific Ocean shoreline of Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Credit: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute All living things have tipping points: points of no return, beyond which they cannot thrive. A new report in Science shows that maximum daily temperatures above 32.2 degrees Celsius (about 90 […]
A microscopic view of spiny pollen from a native wild dandelion species in the southern Rocky Mountains. Credit: University of Missouri University of Missouri researchers discover wildflower’s spiny pollen adapts to help plants reproduce. Have pollen. Must travel. Over 80% of the world’s flowering plants must reproduce in order to […]
Research team from the University of Göttingen investigates the influence of storage on the flavor of ripe tomatoes. There is much debate about the correct storage of tomatoes. There are two main options available to consumers: storage in the refrigerator or at room temperature. A research team from the University […]