Carrying dengue fever and Zika virus, the Asian tiger mosquito is a danger to humans. Italian scientists have examined whether plants could help reduce their numbers.
Category - Close Encounters
Dale Maylea
Purple Moor Grass prevents Oaks from getting help finding nutrients
Molinia caerulea out-wrestles Quercus petraea in the battle for better ectomycorrhizal colonization.
Fi Gennu
Study reveals ‘sticky situation’ for seeds in warming regions
Life would be easier for some seeds if they were a little sticker, but warming seasons may have the opposite effect.
Gina Errico
Goth Rabbits spread Vampire Plants
Rabbits tend to nibble on vegetation rather than dry fruits, but the black Amami rabbits of Japan seem to be eating the fruits and spreading the seeds of an unusual plant.
Alun Salt
Flowers play a key role in flight control for bumblebees
A bee can approach a flower from any direction, but markings on the flower help guide bees in the most effective way, like a natural air traffic control.
A parasitic plant can cause an invasive plant’s allies to switch sides
Scaldweed, Cuscuta grovonii, can prevent an invasive plant from using soil microbes to help invade territory - and the parasite can even become more vicious by using those same microbes against its invasive host.
Herbivores munch the most helpful trees in tropical forests
Herbivory is a key factor in controlling nitrogen limitation and carbon sequestration by tropical forests affected by climate change.
Eurekalert
In Madagascar, the lemurs need the trees, and the trees need the lemurs
Hikori Sato explains why a living forest isn't just a collection of trees.
Bats protect young trees from insect damage, with three times fewer bugs
Not only did the bats reduce the number of caterpillars, they also reduced defoliation by a factor of five.
Want to save the bees? Pay attention to pathogens and flowers
Researchers at UMass Amherst deploy fluorescent paint, pipettes, tents, tweezers and scissors to trace three-way connection between plants, pathogens and bees
Vampire plant reduces fungi’s ability to decompose leaf litter
Parasitic plants draw life from their hosts, but now it seems that even after death, some plants have a baleful influence.
How can you encourage ladybugs to your garden?
Ladybugs, or Ladybirds, are popular insects with gardeners with a taste for pests like aphids, but it's not just prey that's important. Entomologists have examined plants to see what else a ladybug looks for in a home.
Seed distribution by birds can be too much of a good thing
Ecologists find that while birds can scatter seeds, sometimes they take their treasures too far to aid a plant.
Warming wasps pollinate poorly
As temperatures rise, the life span of a crucial pollinator diminishes to the extent it may not be able to do its job.
