Why don’t plants need sunscreen?
Plants have no opportunity to get out of the sun into the shade, so how do they avoid damage by UV-B light? The answer lies in the cuticle, the outermost layer of a plant.
Alun Salt
Alun (he/him) is the Producer for Botany One. It's his job to keep the server running. He's not a botanist, but started running into them on a regular basis while working on writing modules for an Interdisciplinary Science course and, later, helping teach mathematics to Biologists. His degrees are in archaeology and ancient history.
Spring is coming a week earlier to European forests
Botanists found evidence for the effects of climate change stored in herbaria.
You can protect blueberries from cold with some help from the Antarctic
Botanists have found a bodyguard that can protect blueberry plants from cold or drought shocks – but instead of protecting the outside of the plant, it lives inside it.
Infectious bacteria force host plants to feed them
Not only do bacteria have tools to try to shut down plant defences, pathogens can also try to get the plant to direct water and food to help feed the attack.
Increased nutrients could help subarctic shrubs mitigate some of the stresses from a warmer environment
A Scandinavian team have examined how climate change will affect nutrient availability for shrubs and found a surprising result.
Tips on how to apply for a science editor post at Botany One
We’ve examined where people struggled with applications, the last time we had an editor post open. Here are some tips for what we are looking for.
Kew launches new MSc courses
Mimi Tanimoto of Kew Gardens shares details of their new MSc courses.
What makes bees feel at home in the city?
A study of the bees of Toronto aimed to uncover what factors help or hinder urban pollinators.
Ecologists learn how to increase thieving by bumblebees
Bees are more likely to turn to robbery if there are plenty of flowers that they don’t have to rob in an area.
Study in Sydney reveals that preserving pollination is more complex than boosting bees
An Australian team has been studying how to best grow vegetables by experimenting with pak choi in urban gardens. They found that canopy cover and garden richness, rather than pollinator visits are the key factors in improving yield.
Under-damaged reed beds are harming small wetland birds
Small wetland birds may find nesting easier if you periodically set fire to the neighbourhood.
Finding the habitat of an invisible plant
Finding a suitable habitat for Rafflesia arnoldii is difficult. While it produces the single largest flower on the planet, it’s invisible for much of its life.
Reverse archaeology reveals new insights into global warming
Often archaeologists will examine differences in vegetation to gain information on buried sites. Now, some botanists have reversed this and are using archaeological sites to learn about the effect of nutrient differences on plants.
Cycads studied to reconcile fossil and molecular evidence for evolutionary timescales
Scientists used plastomic and biogeographical data to determine when different types of cycads first evolved. Their findings challenge previous ideas about when cycads first appeared and where they come from.