Botany News

September 1, 2016

Fossil Pollen 'Sneeze' Caught by Researchers

Plant Roots Built Beachhead for Life On Land

Climate Change's Effect On Drought More Minor

Plants Adapting to Increasing Atmospheric CO2

Latest Headlines

updated 11:24pm EDT

Multiple Resources Jointly Control Plant Diversity

Sep. 1, 2016 — It is well-established that the addition of nutrients in grassland ecosystems -- both through farming and atmospheric deposition -- reduces plant diversity. Now, an ... read more

Miracle Fruit's Flowering, Fruiting Behaviors Revealed

Aug. 29, 2016 — Researchers studied flower morphology and development of miracle fruit using microscopic techniques. Analyses showed that miracle fruit flowers require 100 days to develop from reproductive meristem ... read more

Scientists Sound Alert About Destructive Tomato Pest

Aug. 29, 2016 — A scientist who has alerted world policymakers to the pest that destroyed 80 percent of Nigeria's tomatoes continues his outreach while scientists warn that the pest may ... read more

Defend or Grow? These Plants Do Both

Aug. 30, 2016 — From natural ecosystems to farmers' fields, plants face a dilemma of energy use: outgrow and out-compete their neighbors for light, or defend themselves against insects and disease. But what if you ... read more

Plants Found to Regulate Leaf Temperature to Boost Carbon Uptake

Aug. 30, 2016 — A new study has found that plants regulate their leaf temperature with some independence from the surrounding air temperature, a trait that increases carbon uptake ... read more

More Tomatoes, Faster: Accelerating Tomato Engineering

Aug. 30, 2016 — While looking for ways to make tomatoes and other crop plants more productive, researchers developed a way to cut the time required to modify a tomato's genes by six weeks. ... read more

Unlocking the Mysteries of Plant Root Function, from Alaska to South Africa

Aug. 25, 2016 — It is easy to study what you can see. Researchers know a lot about how plants work aboveground, but what happens out of sight under the surface may control more than we ... read more

Moth Takes Advantage of Defensive Compounds in Physalis Fruits

Aug. 26, 2016 — Researchers found that the specialist moth Heliothis subflexa benefits from secondary plant components by turning the original defensive function of these compounds into its ... read more

Selecting the Right House Plant Could Improve Indoor Air Quality

Aug. 24, 2016 — Indoor air pollution is an important environmental threat to human health, leading to symptoms of 'sick building syndrome.' But researchers report that surrounding oneself ... read more

Hay Fever from Ragweed Pollen Could Double Due to Climate Change

Aug. 24, 2016 — Climate change could cause new hay fever misery for millions of people across Europe -- according to a new report. Hay fever is a common allergic condition that is caused by an allergy to pollen -- ... read more

Violent Coral Bleaching Caught on Camera

Rare 'corpse Flower' Blooms Again in New York After 80 Years

Group Clones Giant Trees to Fight Climate Change

Floods in China Kill Almost 130, Wipe out Crops

How Aged Wine Gets Its Aroma

Aug. 29, 2016 — Researchers have discovered an enzyme that plays a leading role in the formation of compounds that give aged wines their sought-after ... read more

Predicting Plant-Soil Feedbacks from Plant Traits

Aug. 24, 2016 — In nature, plants cannot grow without soil biota like fungi and bacteria. Successful plants are able to harness positive, growth-promoting soil organisms, while avoiding the negative effects of ... read more

African Bird Shows Signs of Evil Stepdad Behavior

Aug. 24, 2016 — An African desert-dwelling male bird favors his biological sons and alienates his stepsons, suggests new research. The species is the southern pied babbler, a black and white bird found in Botswana, ... read more

Seagrass Restoration Threatened by Fungi

Aug. 23, 2016 — Seagrass seed is killed by waterborne fungi that are related to the well-known potato blight, biologists have discovered. These fungi, which have not previously been found in seawater, hinder seed ... read more

Scientists Unravel Genetic Ancestry of Cultivated Strawberry

Aug. 23, 2016 — Scientists have unlocked a major genetic mystery of one of the ancestors of cultivated strawberry. A genetic analysis, which took four years to complete, aims to improve modern cultivation efforts of ... read more

Researchers Image Roots in the Ground

Aug. 23, 2016 — It's a familiar hazard of vacation time: While you're conspicuously absent, your colleagues in the office forget to water and fertilize the plants -- often leaving behind nothing but a ... read more

Europe's Oldest Known Living Inhabitant

Aug. 19, 2016 — A Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii) growing in the highlands of northern Greece has been dendrocronologically dated to be more than 1,075 years old. This makes it currently the oldest known living ... read more

'Missing Evolutionary Link' of a Widely Used Natural Drug Source Found

Aug. 19, 2016 — A well-known family of natural compounds, called “terpenoids,” have a curious evolutionary origin. In particular, one question relevant to future drug discovery has puzzled scientists: exactly ... read more

Sulfoxaflor Found to Be Less Harmful to Insect Predators Than Broad-Spectrum Insecticides

Aug. 17, 2016 — The selective insecticide sulfoxaflor is just as effective at controlling soybean aphids (Aphis glycines) as broad-spectrum insecticides, without causing significant harm to some beneficial predators ... read more

Homeowners Value Property Value Boost Brought About by City Trees

Aug. 17, 2016 — If a city plants trees near a residential area, most homeowners value the likely subsequent increase in their property values, a new study shows. And they’re willing to pay an average of $7 more ... read more

Researchers Discover a Special Power in Wheat

Aug. 17, 2016 — A new photosynthesis discovery may help breed faster-growing wheat crops that are better adapted to hotter, drier climates. A research team has published a paper showing that photosynthesis occurs in ... read more

Burning Desire Comes Down to Beetles

Aug. 17, 2016 — Beetles could hold the key to when controlled burns should be lit, ensuring forest ecosystems are not unduly damaged by well-meaning fire minimization ... read more

Cultivating Soybeans to Combat the Kudzu Bug

Aug. 17, 2016 — A few strains of wild soy are able to fight the kudzu bug by limiting the ability of its nymphs, or young, to survive. The next step is to identify which gene gives the soybeans this defense ... read more

And One Root Said to the Other Root, 'Don't I Know You from Somewhere?'

Aug. 17, 2016 — Findings show that cycad plants, like other plant species, utilize kin recognition. When planted with non-relatives, Cycas micronesica exhibit competitive growing ... read more

Tree-Rings Reveal Secret Clocks That Could Reset Key Dates Across the Ancient World

Aug. 17, 2016 — In a new paper, the authors explain how harvesting data from tree-rings could revolutionize the study of ancient civilizations such as the Egyptian and Mayan worlds. Until now scholars have had only ... read more

Neonicotinoid Insecticides Linked to Wild Bee Decline Across England

Aug. 16, 2016 — Exposure to neonicotinoid seed treated oilseed rape crops has been linked to long-term population decline of wild bee species across the English countryside, according to ... read more

New Discovery Increases Understanding of How Plants and Bacteria See Light

Aug. 16, 2016 — Plants, bacteria and fungi react to light with light-sensitive proteins. Scientists have now determined the inner workings of one of these ... read more

Humble Moss Helped Create Our Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere

Aug. 15, 2016 — The evolution of the first land plants including mosses may explain a long-standing mystery of how Earth's atmosphere became enriched with oxygen, according to an international ... read more

Sewage Sludge Could Make Great Sustainable Fertilizer

Aug. 15, 2016 — Ever thought of putting sewage on your plants? Scientists say thermally conditioned sewage sludge serves as an excellent fertilizer to improve soil properties. The major advantage over commercial ... read more

Scientists Zero in on Better Mandarin Traits

Aug. 15, 2016 — A horticultural sciences professor and his colleagues found genetic markers for fruit quality traits that will be useful in future cultivar-breeding ... read more

Monday, August 29, 2016