When Birches Become Wasps
Birches may have developed white bark to warn herbivores that they’re not good to eat.
Category: Taxonomy & Evolution
Pansies undergo high-speed evolution when pollinators disappear
French researchers used ‘resurrection ecology’ to compare 2012 pansies with plants from twenty years earlier to see the evolutionary changes in the flowers over time.
Lessons from magnolias about past climatic events and plant evolution
Chinese scientists used data from Magnolia plastid genomes to peer back millions of years to understand Cenozoic climatic changes.
Species delimitation and a new Betula species in section Costatae
Botanists have developed an integrated approach to identify differences between closely related species.
New Leaf Database Could Help Identify Extinct Plants
A new database of leaves promise not only to help identify plants around us, but also to identify plants known only from fossils.
Cycads studied to reconcile fossil and molecular evidence for evolutionary timescales
Scientists used plastomic and biogeographical data to determine when different types of cycads first evolved. Their findings challenge previous ideas about when cycads first appeared and where they come from.
Morphological characterisation of trichomes
Can we use electron microscopy and statistical analyses to better classify the trichomes of the large plant genus Solanum?
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.
Measuring the hidden phenotype using novel mathematical techniques
A new study quantifies the shape of barley seeds using topological methods.
Piecing together the Zamiaceae family tree reveals the evolution of how plants ‘breathe’
The Zamiaceae are often considered ‘living fossils’, but a close study of how they have evolved over millions of years can give a glimpse into the lives of past plants.
Next generation sequencing of Zanthoxylum leads to rethink of previous generations of Zanthoxylum
Next-generation sequencing using target enrichment reveals that current sectional classifications of Zanthoxylum need revision.
Phenotypic plasticity to nutrient availability in a wetland invasive species
Are triploid Butomus umbellatus plants more plastic to nutrient availability than diploid plants and does this make them more invasive?
Plant breeding systems on the remote oceanic island of Pohnpei
How do the breeding systems of recent colonizing and long established plant species vary on a remote oceanic island?
A new study reveals how the Andes have shaped the history of aquatic plants
Researchers find that the rise of the Andes created conditions in the landscape that drove speciation in aquatic plants.