Declines in pollinator populations and monarch butterflies require restoration of habitats with the plants and floral resources that support them. Monarch butterflies in particular lay their eggs exclusively on milkweed...
Author - AoBPLANTS
AoBPLANTS
3D-modelling of buttress region and roots gives allometric carbon formulae
The largest uncertainty in humans’ contribution to climate change from land use is the fate of carbon that was belowground in pre-modified forests. In a recent study published in AoB PLANTS, Dean et al. produced...
Maize nutrient uptake and photosynthesis in intercropping
Maize and wheat are globally important food crops. The two species can be grown as an intercrop, with substantial land sparing in the order of 20%, as expressed by a land equivalent ratio of approximately 1.2. In a...
Expansive reed populations – alien invasion or disturbed wetlands?
In southern Africa a pattern of Phragmites spp. reed expansion has occurred in recent decades that has shown a similar trend to cryptic invasions reported in North and South America. A recent Editor’s Choice...
Tree seedling growth capacity under climate change
Predicting the effects of climate change on tree species and communities is critical for understanding the future state of our forested ecosystems. In a recent study published in AoB PLANTS, Rodgers et al. used a fully...
Diurnal and nocturnal pollination in a nursery-pollinated species
Nursery pollination is an unusual plant–insect interaction in which an insect is both pollinator and seed-predator. Depending on the abundance of the nursery pollinator and of other pollinators this interaction can...
Spore liberation in mosses
The ability to perform hygroscopic movements has evolved in many plant lineages and relates to a multitude of different functions such as seed burial, flower protection or regulation of diaspore release. In a recent...
Wetland seed dispersal by white-tailed deer
Understanding the dispersal of wetland plants is important to the conservation of species in patchy or isolated wetland environments. In a recent study published in AoB PLANTS, Flaherty et al. explored the potential for...
Induced Resource Partitioning: Effects of Mycorrhizae and Herbivory
Plants simultaneously interact with beneficial and antagonistic organisms such as mycorrhizal fungi and herbivores, respectively. In a recent article published in AoB PLANTS, Orians et al. studied the net effects of...
Tissue- and cell-specific cytokinin activity in poplar under drought
Climate change with increasing periods of drought is expected to reduce the yield of biomass crops such as poplars. To combat yield loss it is important to better understand the molecular mechanisms that control growth...
Contrasting soil-texture niches, competitive abilities, and coexistence
When closely related plant species occur in the same region, their distributions at small spatial scales are expected to depend on whether they have evolved different tolerances to variation in the environment. Whether...
Population genetics of a rare Grevillea
For conservation of rare riparian species, avoiding an impact to hydrodynamic processes, such as water tables and flooding dynamics, may be just as critical as avoiding direct impacts on the number of plants.
Intra-specific facilitation promotes the recruitment of a desert shrub
In stressful environments, nurse elements, such as shrubs or rocks, facilitate plant recruitment by providing less severe environments for seed germination and seedling survival. As seedlings develop, however, they may...
Dispersal and establishment of vascular epiphytes in modified landscapes
The ongoing destruction of old-growth forests puts tropical forest species, with epiphytes as a key element, under great pressure. To maintain viable epiphyte communities in fragmented landscapes, remaining habitable...
