Herkogamy, the spatial separation of sex organs in hermaphroditic plants, is thought to have evolved to reduce self-pollination and inbreeding within a population. Yet there has been little evidence to support these...
Category - Close Encounters
William Salter
Even for specialists, floral morphology is influenced by both pollinators and climate
Climate can indirectly affect floral morphology within a species by affecting what pollinators will visit those flowers across its range.
Erin Zimmerman
Control of root-knot nematode infection by rhizobacteria in tomato plants
Plants can encourage rhizobacteria to help fight of rot-knot nematodes.
Daphnia are bite-size for the carnivorous waterwheel plant
The Venus Fly Trap is not the only carnivorous plant with a snap-trap. Aldrovanda vesiculosa, the waterwheel plant, has one too but it's not always been clear how it works.
Dale Maylea
Plants can prepare soils to give other plants protection against pests
It's known that microbes in the soil can help plants fight pests. Now research published in New Phytologist shows that plants can be used to create anti-pest microbiomes.
Alun Salt
Potato-associated bacteria can act as bodyguards
Bacteria found with potatoes can help protect their hosts against late blight. The aid comes from their volatile emissions.
How does partnership work for a lichen in the Antarctic?
Lichens are partnerships between algae and fungi. In the Antarctic Lichens offer algae shelter against the cold, but also an uncertain future.
Can insights from invasion ecology promote benefits from root mutualisms in plant production?
Ramoneda et al. propose specific experimental approaches to utilize the wild ancestors of crops to determine whether crop domestication compromised the benefits derived from root microbial symbioses or not.
Woody plants work with microbes to shape the soil they live in
The B-horizon in soil is created through interactions between plants and rhizosphere organisms.
Fi Gennu
Hybrids may succeed where invasive species fail as sea levels rise
Invasive species might suffer from a change in conditions in tidal areas, but their hybrid offspring may have genes to survive.
Wild tomatoes have the genes to partner with fungi
Foraging for nutrients is easier when something else does it for you, but how can tomatoes better attract a partner?
Wild relatives of beans retain useful drought resistance
A new study of wild crop relatives of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) finds they retain useful adaptations to drought stress.
Floral polymorphism and environmental heterogeneity
Floral polymorphism and environmental heterogeneity Polymorphism in flower colour may be maintained either by pollinator preferences or by environmental fluctuations. Tang and Huan examine gynoecium colour polymorphism...
botanyone
Carnivorous plants prefer to kill in broad daylight
I owe thanks to Dr Andrej Pavlovič for being a patient guinea pig with my first press-release (you can find it on Science Daily) and to Lizzie Shannon-Little at OUP for helping put it out. It’s good timing because...
