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.
Category: Cells, Genes & Molecules
Species delimitation and a new Betula species in section Costatae
Botanists have developed an integrated approach to identify differences between closely related species.
A trick of the light: Optimizing light quality conditions speeds plant growth
Model identifies optimal light conditions to manipulate the circadian clock.
Phylogeography of the invasive Brazilian peppertree in South Africa
Can a better understanding of the origins of the invasive tree species Schinus terebinthifolia in South Africa help to inform its management?
How can botanists improve rice’s ability to use phosphorus?
Botanists show for the first time that reduced phosphorus investment in lipids in plants improves phosphorus use efficiency in rice without reducing photosynthesis.
It’s all connected: modeling water potential and plant physiological processes
“As water potential is regarded the best indicator of plant water status, because it is the integrated result of above- and below-ground environmental conditions, it holds promise as a pivotal model variable to which other plant processes respond.”
Phylogenomic analyses of the East Asian endemic Abelia
Sun et al. used genomic data to reconstruct the phylogeny of Abelia and found a clear pattern of reticulate evolution in the group.
Botanists find the effects of ancient climates in the modern genomes of two closely related oak species
Botanists examined the genomes of two species, Quercus acutissima and Q. chenii, to see if changes in the climate three million years ago affected how they hybridised.
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.
Computational model predicts soybean response to climate change
A successful plant model has now been parameterized to include soybean growth under elevated CO2.
Grass finds more than one way to survive in saline soil
A study of two species of grass in China finds that they have developed different methods to cope with the stress of saline-alkali soils.
What does chlorophyll leave behind after a billion years?
Scientists have identified one of the earliest multicellular algae. Their new method could help unlock much more information from Precambrian fossils.
Simulating grass phenotypic plasticity as an emergent property
Integrating plant functioning at organ scale can simulate the phenotypic plasticity of plants.
Increasing the copies of genes increases the ecological niche that nettles can thrive in
Botanists find it’s easier to find the gene to cope with a problem if you carry more copies of genes.