Botany News

September 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Rugged Falklands Landscape Was Once a Lush Rainforest

Sep. 18, 2024 — A researcher has found evidence that the treeless, rugged, grassland landscape of the Falkland Islands was home to a lush, diverse rainforest up to 30 million years ...

Stopping Plants from Passing Viruses to Their Progeny

Sep. 19, 2024 — Scientists have learned how plants keep viruses from being passed to their offspring, a finding that could ensure healthier crops. The discovery could also help reduce the transmission of diseases from mothers to human ...

How Plant Communities Change When Conquering Uninhabited Ground

Sep. 17, 2024 — Some plants are able to take over uninhabited spaces like sand dunes, volcanic substrates and rockfall areas. The first colonizers have specific traits that allow them to grow in such hostile environments. Other plants lack such traits but will soon ...

Critical Crops' Alternative Way to Succeed in Heat and Drought

Sep. 16, 2024 — Scientists discovered that certain plants can survive stressful, dry conditions by controlling water loss through their leaves without relying on their usual mechanism -- tiny pores known as ...

Latest Headlines

updated 8:51pm EDT

Are Cows Pickier Than Goats?

Sep. 19, 2024 — Linnaeus collected 643 different plant species that were then fed to horses, cows, pigs, sheep and goats. The results were carefully compiled but not analyzed until now, 275 years ...

A New Forecasting Model Based on Gene Activity Predicts When Japan's Cherry Buds Awake from Dormancy

Sep. 19, 2024 — Researchers have developed a model that uses gene activity to predict when Somei Yoshino cherry tree buds awake from dormancy. Their findings could ...

The Unexpected Protein Connection in Maize Growth and Defense

Sep. 17, 2024 — Recent research has revealed that a family of proteins called COI1, previously associated with defense mechanisms in other plant species like Arabidopsis and rice, primarily regulates growth in maize ...

How Gaps in the Canopy of a Floodplain Influence Microclimate and Soil Biological Activity

Sep. 16, 2024 — Canopy gaps in a mixed floodplain forest have a direct effect on forest soil temperature and moisture, but only have a minor impact on soil ...

Century-Old Experiment Secures Beer and Whiskey's Future

Sep. 11, 2024 — Thanks to an experiment started before the Great Depression, researchers have pinpointed the genes behind the remarkable adaptability of barley, a key ingredient in beer and whiskey. These insights ...

Flowers Use Adjustable 'Paint by Numbers' Petal Designs to Attract Pollinators

Sep. 13, 2024 — Flowers like hibiscus use an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that dictates the size of their bullseyes -- a crucial ...

Plant-Derived Secondary Organic Aerosols Can Act as Mediators of Plant-Plant Interactions

Sep. 13, 2024 — A new study reveals that plant-derived secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) can act as mediators of plant-plant interactions. This research was ...

New Research on Plant Stem Cells Shines Light on How Plants Grow Stronger

Sep. 12, 2024 — A professor of plant molecular biology wants people to know that plants have stem cells too. Just like in the medical world, plant stem cells could support human growth and development when used to ...

Photosynthesis: A Glimpse Into the Chloroplast Workshop

Sep. 12, 2024 — Photosynthesis takes place before our eyes every day in every single little green leaf -- yet the details of the complex process have not yet been fully understood. A research team has unraveled ...

Team Unravels Regulatory Mechanism That Prevents Stem Cell Differentiation and Maintains Gender Balance in Vascular Plants

Sep. 12, 2024 — Plant scientists have identified a protein that plays a previously unknown role in controlling cell differentiation and determining gender in ...

Self-Medicating Gorillas and Traditional Healers Provide Clues for New Drug Discovery

Sep. 11, 2024 — Four plants consumed by wild gorillas in Gabon and used by local communities in traditional medicine show antibacterial and antioxidant properties, researchers ...

Towards a Better Understanding of Epigenetics and Dynamic Gene Silencing and Reactivation

Sep. 10, 2024 — Epigenetics, the dynamic regulation of genetic expression, involves complex molecular mechanisms. While the process of gene silencing by methylating the H3K27 position in histones is understood, not ...

What's Really 'Fueling' Harmful Algae in Florida's Lake Okeechobee?

Sep. 10, 2024 — Historically, Lake Okeechobee was thought to be impaired only by phosphorus, focusing efforts on reducing agricultural runoff. However, new comprehensive sampling across the Lake Okeechobee Waterway ...

AI Can Slash Indoor Farming Energy Use

Sep. 9, 2024 — Integrating artificial intelligence into today's environmental control systems could reduce energy consumption for indoor agriculture by 25% -- potentially helping to feed the world as its ...

Researchers Determine Molecular Interactions in Plants

Sep. 5, 2024 — Plant scientists have long known that phosphorus is a crucial component in plant growth. Biologists are now developing a better understanding of how plants detect and use that resource -- potentially ...

The Dictionary of Termites Has Been Rewritten

Sep. 5, 2024 — Just as many ecosystems rely on the infrastructure provided by termites, so too does the study of termites require a solid foundation. And now, a new system for termite classification has been ...

Providing Blooms All Season Long May Be the Key to Attracting Pollinators, No Matter What Landscape Your Garden Is Near

Sep. 4, 2024 — A diverse and abundant flower planting that provides flowers in bloom all season may be more important to bees and other pollinators than whatever is surrounding the flower garden, according to a new ...

Photosynthesis in Near Darkness

Sep. 4, 2024 — Photosynthesis can take place in nature even at extremely low light levels. This is the result of a study that investigated the development of Arctic microalgae at the end of the polar night. The ...

Agricultural Impact of Flooding

Aug. 29, 2024 — Entomology professor Esther Ngumbi studies how flooding affects crop plants and the insects that feed on them. She argues in a new review that flooding is a largely overlooked factor in studies meant ...

Global Timber Supply Threatened as Climate Change Pushes Cropland Northwards

Aug. 29, 2024 — Climate change will move and reduce the land suitable for growing food and timber, putting the production of these two vital resources into direct competition, a new study has ...

Climate Change Increases Foodborne Illness Risk from Raw Produce

Aug. 29, 2024 — Salmonella enterica causes disease in 1.2 million people in the U.S. every year. A new study found that Salmonella contamination is enhanced by high humidity and plant ...

Plant Signaling Pathways Decoded

Aug. 28, 2024 — Using newly generated 'optogenetic' tobacco plants, research teams have investigated how plants process external ...

Study Shows Reduced Inflammation in Residents After Adding Trees to Their Neighborhoods

Aug. 27, 2024 — A new project has found that people living in neighborhoods where the number of trees and shrubs was more than doubled showed lower levels of a blood marker of inflammation than those living outside ...

Are Crops Worldwide Sufficiently Pollinated?

Aug. 26, 2024 — Scientists have analyzed crop yields of more than 1,500 fields on six continents, and found that production worldwide of important, nutritionally dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and ...

A Leaky Sink: Carbon Emissions from Forest Soil Will Likely Grow With Rising Temperatures

Aug. 23, 2024 — The soils of northern forests are key reservoirs that help keep the carbon dioxide that trees inhale and use for photosynthesis from making it back into the ...

Innovative Field Experiments Shed Light on Biological Clocks in Nature

Aug. 23, 2024 — A new study has used a series of innovative field experiments to show how plants combine circadian clock signals with environmental cues under naturally fluctuating ...

Honey Bees May Play Key Role in Spreading Viruses to Wild Bumblebees

Aug. 21, 2024 — Honey bees may play a role in increasing virus levels in wild bumble bees each spring, according to researchers who analyzed seasonal trends of parasite and virus transmission in ...

Pilot Study Uses Recycled Glass to Grow Plants for Salsa Ingredients

Aug. 21, 2024 — Tortilla chips and fresh salsa are tasty, but they could be even more appealing if you grow the ingredients yourself. Now, researchers report that some salsa ingredients -- cilantro, bell pepper and ...

Survival Tactics: AI-Driven Insights Into Chromatin Changes for Winter Dormancy in Axillary Buds

Aug. 21, 2024 — Epigenetics confers a survival advantage in plants to endure harsh weather by inducing bud dormancy. Environmental factors or intrinsic signals trigger the transition between growth and dormancy. ...

Researchers Uncover the Secrets of 'Plant Puberty'

Aug. 20, 2024 — Researchers have identified the genetic changes linked to why plants go through a developmental change similar to 'puberty' at different rates, a discovery which could lead to better crop ...