Botanists uncover the reason for an orchid's delicate shape, deforestation is probably worse than you thought, and a test of killing weeds without herbicide.
Category - News in Brief
Dale Maylea
Eurekalert
A nose becomes fancier, an armyworm answer, and plants against cancer
Scientists take different approaches to tackle crop pests, and a well-known plant produces a protein that inhibits tumour growth in mammals.
Effects of deer exclusion on plant recovery in dune ecosystems after a severe coastal storm
The dunes of barrier islands erode during storm events but they also prevent damage to inland ecosystems. For these dunes to function in this way, vegetation recovery between storm events is essential. Characteristic of...
William Salter
MARSHAL, a novel tool for modeling root system hydraulics
A new computational tool couples a root architecture model with fast and accurate algorithms of water flow through hydraulic architectures and plant-scale parameter calculations.
Rachel Shekar
How do you combine simplicity and realism in plant models?
Parsimony and biological reality are often seen as antagonistic goals in plant modelling. Hammer and colleagues argue that isn't always the case, and combining the two approaches could bring benefits to scientists as...
Aconitum offers bees more nectar to carry its toxic pollen
Male flowers of Aconitum protect their pollen by adding alkaloids. Without pollen as a reward, botanists asked how the flower compensated pollinators.
The contrasting effects of climate change-induced drought on three temperate tree species
Climate change-induced drought has already contributed to increased plant mortality around the globe, including in forest ecosystems. Drought events are projected to become even more frequent in forests in the future...
UV light can guide flies to an Utterly Voracious plant
Students at Augustana University have found out how insects see carnivorous plants by building on each other's work in a series of projects.
The Miscanthus sacchariflorus homeland lies beneath the waves
A study of the genetic diversity of Miscanthus sacchariflorus has revealed that the centre of its diversity now lies under the Yellow Sea.
Fi Gennu
The role of ultraviolet reflectance and pattern in the pollination system of Hypoxis camerooniana
It's the colours you cannot see that are important to the bees of Cameroon.
Understanding gene expression under flooding and drought stress in Phalaris arundinacea and Dactylis glomerata
A changing climate could bring drier or wetter conditions. A team of scientists has been examining how the genes of two plants adapt to both conditions.
Modelling molecular-level processes using parametric extension of L-systems
It is now possible to simulate molecular and higher-level spatially explicit stochastic processes and study their behavior in the presence of stochastic perturbations
Cultivation of Jatropha shows the importance of conservation
Jatropha curcas could be an oil crop with major biofuel potential, but the breeding germplasm has little variation. Botanists have found that there is genetic potential in previously overlooked non-toxic jatropha, but...
Effects of ABA dynamics on poplar acclimation to drought
Characterisation of the biochemical and genetic mechanisms that underpin plant responses to water deficit are central to the development of more productive drought-tolerant biomass crops, including fast-growing poplars.
