Researchers have developed a novel filter, made from tannic-acid treated sawdust which may help reduce plastic pollution, while another approach has been presented to create a backyard-compostable bioplastic, using...
Tag - pollution
Nigel Chaffey
Your lawn can identify the traces of vehicle pollution
Mobile and plant-based measurements of fossil fuel CO2 can help quantify decarbonization progress in cities
Eurekalert
Dale Maylea
A carnivorous plant suffers poisoning from microplastics
Botanists identify microplastics entering traps as reducing the growth of a carnivorous plant.
Alun Salt
Cyanobacteria: Good week, or bad week..? Part IV
This is the last of our quartet of blog posts looking at the newsworthy world of the blue-greens, and looks at those organisms from a different viewpoint… Image: DDDDDDDDD / Wikipedia Cyanobacteria lighting the way for...
Three kinds of algae? Blooming marvellous news!
Bloom: From food to fuel, the epic story of how algae can save our world by Ruth Kassinger 2019. Elliott & Thompson. As a Botanist, especially one who has taught an undergraduate module on marine biology for over 12...
Microplastics could pose a threat to plants
There’s been plenty of media attention on the threat plastics, especially microplastics, pose to animal life. A paper in New Phytologist suggests that there’s more to this. Plants might be suffering from...
The hyperactive heavy metal band
It has been said that humans try to understand plants for two reasons: Either to kill them better – e.g. if they are considered to be weeds that compete for resources with our crop plants – or to exploit them for human...
Can Trees Track the Air that You Breathe?
A new paper in PLOS One says trees outside your house can act as sentinels tracking the concentrations of potentially hazardous chemicals in your home's air.
Pollution isn’t always good for trees
You might be surprised that it has any positive effects, but anthropogenic Nitrogen has been boosting the nutrients for sugar maples in Michigan. But these benefits are likely to be lost in the future due to rising CO2...
The Urban Forests Cleaning Beijing
The Chinese Tulip Tree might be thought of as purely ornamental, but new research finds it might help Beijing clean up its notorious smogs.
Green infrastructure and ecosystem services – is the devil in the detail? (Viewpoint)
Urban green infrastructure provides a range of ecosystem services to human society. But how much does plant choice matter in the delivery of these services? Paradoxically, much of the literature on green infrastructure...
botanyone
Biodiversity and conservation of heathlands (Invited Review)
Heathlands are human-shaped habitats that have a strong cultural and natural value, adding substantially to many ecosystem services such as food and water supply, carbon sequestration, recreation and biodiversity...
