A new wearable technology — for plants
In the future, some plants may wear monitors to keep track of water loss.
Dale Maylea
Dale Maylea was a system for adding value to press releases. Now he's a manual algorithm for blogging any papers that Alun Salt thinks are interesting. The idea being telling people about an interesting paper NOW beats telling people about an interesting paper at some time in the future, when there's time to sit down and take things slowly.
Qu’est-ce qui fait que certaines plantes sont rares ?
Qu’est-ce qui se cache derrière les schémas de répartition des plantes, et existe-t-il des caractéristiques communes aux plantes rares ? Une équipe de botanistes a passé en revue des articles pour le découvrir.
What is it that makes some plants rare?
What’s behind the patterns of plant distribution, and are there any common features of rare plants? A team of botanists has been reviewing articles to find out.
New Leaf Database Could Help Identify Extinct Plants
A new database of leaves promise not only to help identify plants around us, but also to identify plants known only from fossils.
More plants will be ‘losers’ than ‘winners’ in the future, thanks to human activity
Fait vos jeux, but while there will be some winners, the odds are stacked against most plants doing well in the future.
Weeds with a bad reputation have value for pollinators and biodiversity
Ecologists have found that weeds are far more valuable in supporting biodiversity than we give them credit for.
Is that an invasive alien species? Time to reach for the phone.
Smartphone apps are a tool that could help monitor, predict, and ideally prevent the spread of invasive species. But are they living up to their full potential?
Changing seasons change tree growth, changing carbon sequestration by forests
An earlier spring changes the growing conditions for trees, and not always for the better.
Why would a plant that doesn’t live in a wildfire zone need to be able to smell smoke?
The ability to smell smoke is important if you’re expecting a fire – but some plants have altered how they use this sense to modify how they grow.
What happens to carnivorous plants when the insects bite back?
A moth could be interfering with a pitcher plant’s reproduction by developing a taste for flowers – or at least parts of a flower.
Pathogens can’t hide under the covers
Research published in Phytobiomes shows that cover crops could help improve the health of crops.
It’s far from certain that peat bogs can continue absorbing carbon dioxide at current rates
A common claim is that rising carbon dioxide is actually good for plants. Research from Sweden shows that reality is more complicated.
Resilience of crops confirms that drought alone did not cause a ‘collapse’ in Mayan civilisation
In the 800s, Mayan cities in southeastern Mexico and Central America were abandoned – just as drought hit the region. But a botanical study shows that the connection between drought and depopulation was not simple.
Botanists take a step back to move forward in understanding grass
A 19th century idea of how grass grows has proven more accurate than later ideas, according to new research.