What appears to be a place of safety becomes a maze, as an orchid manipulates its visitor.
Category - News
Fi Gennu
Ceropegia gerrardii smells of pain to attract ‘blood’ drinking flies
New research uncovers how this South African plant tricks kleptoparasitic flies into pollination by imitating wounded honey bees.
Dale Maylea
What drives cambium development?
Using a mathematical model to test a proposed cambial cell division feedback loop.
Rachel Shekar
Unique Evolutionary Histories in Marginal Habitats of the Atlantic Forest Uncovered
Marginal habitats, previously thought to be subsets of the rain forest, have distinct evolutionary paths, challenging our understanding of the Atlantic Forest's diversity.
Daisy’s Intricate Fly Decoy Attracts Pollinators with Ingenious Gene Repurposing
A flower has found a shortcut to attracting males through sexual deception.
MIT Researchers Develop Silk-Based “Unclonable” Tags to Combat Counterfeit Seeds
New system harnesses randomness and provides a unique code that cannot be duplicated, bringing hope to farmers plagued by fake seeds.
Unlocking the secret to breeding high yielding protein-rich wheat
Models enable the optimization of multiple trait trade-offs.
A Bounty of Wasted Pollen and Nectar Poses New Questions for Pollinator Conservation
A study finds that almost 60% of nectar produced by ivy in autumn goes uncollected by pollinators.
Botanical genomics to boost sustainable agriculture: the case of faba bean
Since the release of the first plant genome in 2000, the field of next-generation sequencing applied to botanical species has bloomed and expanded from model organism (Arabidopsis thaliana) to crops, thus becoming a...
Michela Osnato
Feral Crops: The Untapped Potential to Boost Food Security Amid Climate Change
Scientists are exploring a new way to improve food security in the face of climate change by studying "feral crops" - wild plants that have escaped cultivation and continue to thrive without human intervention.
Clonal Plants Use Smart Connections to Boost Resistance Against Hungry Insects
Plants that can reproduce by cloning themselves can share resources and signals to resist herbivores. Clones can change the structure of their leaves according to herbivore stress through the connections between them.
Seeds of Hope Sit Unused in Storage
Limited funding and resources are preventing seed banks from fully using their seed collections to conserve endangered plants.
How Native Plants Team Up to Repel Invaders
Native plants that suffer when black mustard invades their patch do much better when a neighbour helps.
Nanoplastics threaten plants’ ability to clean up industrial waste
Water Hyacinths can help clean up polluted water when grown in artificial wetlands, but nanoplastic pollution could dramatically reduce their efficiency.
