Native plants in urban settings can improve bird diversity
In urban areas, gardens and parks can provide green oases among the concrete, and birds are adapted to fly in and settle in these areas. But not all green spaces are the same.
Tag: Biodiversity
Ecologists discover a place for the dead in graveyards
It was thought that people preferred graveyards to be tidy. A new survey finds that visitors can accept the presence of some decaying matter – opening more possibilities for biodiversity.
Ancient grasslands take centuries to develop
Ecologists are discovering the growth of a biodiverse grassland community can take over a thousand years.
Collecting wild Miscanthus germplasm and research partners in Asia
While collecting plant material for crop breeding, a team from Aberystwyth University also thought hard about the human side of their work.
The poorly known Ethiopian crop Enset
Enset, a relative of the banana, provides the staple food for around 20 million Ethiopians, yet is barely known outside of the region.
Functional traits in endemism hotspots and refugia
Pest control through conservation is not always a success
Is there a better way to control pests than spraying chemicals? Keeping a non-crop habitat nearby can help shelter predators, but new research shows the correlation between conservation and pest-control isn’t simple.
Unexpected flowers in the Jurassic
Did flowering plants appear earlier than the fossil record indicates? Two papers independently conclude they did – and suggest what fossil evidence we should look for.
Integrative approaches to understanding angiosperm origins and diversity
The rise of angiosperms should be studied as part of the global increase in biodiversity.
7th International and 16th National Conference on Plant Resources: Current Trends, Challenges and Solutions
Climate change could increase biodiversity – if a location already has biodiversity
Climate change could increase biodiversity with a couple of provisos, and those provisos are important.
Evolution of Rainbow rockcress highlights Anatolia as a cradle of biodiversity
Green infrastructure and ecosystem services – is the devil in the detail? (Viewpoint)
Building a vision for the future: creating a roadmap for UK plant sciences
Plant science has a central role to play in so many of the global challenges facing the world today, including our future food security, the conservation of biodiversity, sustaining ecosystem services, improving global health and mitigating impacts of global climate change. The UK is internationally recognised for its excellence in plant science, and as such is well positioned to help provide solutions across the range of challenges facing the planet now and in the future.