Endangered Plants News

December 23, 2024

Top Headlines

Growing Safer Spuds: Removing Toxins from Potatoes

Dec. 20, 2024 — Scientists have discovered a way to remove toxic compounds from potatoes and tomatoes, making them safer to eat and easier to store. The breakthrough could cut food waste and enhance crop farming in extreme environments, like outer ...

An Inexpensive Fix for California's Struggling Wildflowers

Dec. 19, 2024 — California's native wildflowers are being smothered by layers of dead, invasive grasses. A new study shows that simply raking these layers can boost biodiversity and reduce fire ...

Evolutionary Study Reveals the Toxic Reach of Disease-Causing Bacteria Across the Plant Kingdom

Dec. 19, 2024 — The capacity of bacteria to spread disease across the Plant Kingdom may be much more widespread than previously suspected, according to new ...

Researchers Identify a Mysterious Fossil Seed to Reveal New Chapters in Climate History of Los Angeles

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientists have successfully identified a previously unknown species to Southern California from fossilized seeds, revealing a drought-fueled dance between two species of juniper with lessons for the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:17pm EST

Conserving High-Elevation Grasslands in Peru Is Key to Protect Andean Bears

Dec. 18, 2024 — Andean bears carefully select the best foraging locations and plants to maximize nutrition and avoid livestock, according to a new ...

Shrubs Can Help or Hinder a Forest's Recovery After Wildfire

Dec. 16, 2024 — When and where to plant tree seedlings to restore forests after wildfires has a lot to do with shrubs, finds a new ...

Botanists Name Beautiful New Species of 'Lipstick Vine' from the Philippine Rainforest

Dec. 12, 2024 — Scientists have today announced the discovery of a species of lipstick vine completely new to science, from the depths of the Philippine rainforest. ...

Breakthrough AI Model Can Translate the Language of Plant Life

Dec. 9, 2024 — A pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) powered model able to understand the sequences and structure patterns that make up the genetic 'language' of plants, has been launched by a research ...

Biodiversity at Risk in Most Rainforests

Dec. 9, 2024 — New research has revealed less than a quarter of the remaining tropical rainforests around the globe can safeguard thousands of threatened species from ...

Durian Helps Rice Plants Thrive in Salty Soil

Dec. 5, 2024 — Extreme weather and pollution have increased the salt content in some soil, making growing conditions harsh for salt-sensitive crops like rice. Now, researchers detail a possible solution that ...

Conservation Paradox: Invasive Species Are Often Threatened in Their Native Range

Dec. 6, 2024 — Non-native species introduced by humans are among the main causes of global species decline -- they were partly responsible for 60 percent of the ...

Climate Change Threatens Global Food Supply: Scientists Call for Urgent Action

Dec. 5, 2024 — As climate change accelerates, scientists are sounding the alarm about its potentially devastating impact on the world's food supply. Researchers ...

Lifesaver for Wild Bees: The Importance of Quarries

Dec. 4, 2024 — A research team has investigated the importance of limestone quarries for wild bee conservation. Diverse landscapes with good connectivity between quarries and calcareous grasslands proved to be ...

Insects Wearing Two Hats Solve Botanical Mystery

Dec. 4, 2024 — The discovery of a unique case where the same insect species both pollinate a plant and distribute its seeds not only solves a long-standing botanical mystery. The find also stresses the diverse ...

Ecosystems: New Study Questions Common Assumption About Biodiversity

Dec. 3, 2024 — Plant species can fulfill different functions within an ecosystem, even if they are closely related to each other. This surprising conclusion was reached by a global analysis of around 1.7 million ...

Fossil Dung Reveals Clues to Dinosaur Success Story

Nov. 29, 2024 — Researchers have been able to identify undigested food remains, plants and prey in the fossilized feces of dinosaurs. These analyses of hundreds of samples provide clues about the role dinosaurs ...

Chemical Replacement of TNT Explosive More Harmful to Plants, Study Shows

Nov. 28, 2024 — The increased use of a chemical compound to replace TNT in explosive devices has a damaging and long lasting effect on plants, new research has ...

How Fungi Colonize Plant Roots

Nov. 27, 2024 — Researchers have identified two fungal enzymes that hijack the immune system of plants, playing a critical role in the colonization of plant roots. These findings open new avenues for interventions ...

Same Plant, Different Tactic: Habitat Determines Response to Climate

Nov. 26, 2024 — A research team has found some clues to how plants survive in colder ...

Smart Agriculture Technology for Monitoring Plants

Nov. 26, 2024 — This unobtrusive, leaf-mounted sensor saves time and improves productivity by remotely monitoring the health of plants in ...

What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Nov. 21, 2024 — Morning glory plants that can resist the effects of glyphosate also resist damage from herbivorous insects, according to a new ...

Building Roots in Glass, a Bio-Inspired Approach to Creating 3D Microvascular Networks Using Plants and Fungi

Nov. 19, 2024 — Researchers have developed a new bio-inspired approach to building complex 3D microfluidic networks by utilizing plant roots and fungal hyphae as molds. The team grew plants and fungi in ...

Will Agricultural Weeds Finally Claim the Upper Hand in a Changing Climate?

Nov. 19, 2024 — A few years back, a group of weed scientists showed that soil-applied herbicides are less effective against agricultural weeds in the context of our changing climate. Now, the same research group has ...

Some Trees Can Acclimate to Changing Temperatures

Nov. 18, 2024 — Climate change is a persistent and growing challenge to plant life on our planet. Changes to the environment that plants are unaccustomed to affect how they grow, putting much at risk. Increasingly, ...

New Study Reveals Half a Century of Change on Britain's Iconic Limestone Pavements

Nov. 14, 2024 — Fifty years of change on iconic limestone pavements has revealed mixed fortunes for one of the most distinctive landscapes in the UK. The findings, which reveal large changes since the 1970s, are ...

Linking Data on Genetics, Traits and Environment Gives Crop Breeders a Wider Lens

Nov. 13, 2024 — The interplay between the genetic makeup of crops and the conditions in which they grow is difficult to untangle. A research team aims to help breeders analyze the interactions to make crops more ...

New Species Discovered With Refined DNA Technology

Nov. 13, 2024 — Sometimes plants are so similar to each other that the methods developed by 18th century scientist Carl Linnaeus for identifying species are not enough. Completely new species of daisies have been ...

Robot Identifies Plants by 'Touching' Their Leaves

Nov. 13, 2024 — Researchers have developed a robot that identifies different plant species at various stages of growth by 'touching' their leaves with an electrode. The robot can measure properties such as ...

In Greening Arctic, Caribou and Muskoxen Play Key Role

Nov. 12, 2024 — A new study highlights the importance of caribou and muskoxen to the greening Arctic tundra, linking grazing with plant phenology and abundance in the Arctic ...

Heartier Heinz? How Scientists Are Learning to Help Tomatoes Beat the Heat

Nov. 8, 2024 — Biologists found what makes some types of tomatoes more heat-tolerant, yielding insights that could help crops adapt to climate ...

How Plants Grow Thicker, Not Just Taller

Nov. 8, 2024 — Using a computer model that reveals how plants grow thicker over time, biologists have uncovered how cells are activated to produce wood tissue. Understanding the genetic and molecular signals behind ...

Defense or Growth -- How Plants Allocate Resources

Nov. 7, 2024 — The more a plant species invests in defense, the less potential it has for growth, according to a study. Research made possible by open science provides new insights into plant adaptation and ...

How Gophers Brought Mount St. Helens Back to Life in One Day

Nov. 6, 2024 — When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, lava incinerated anything living for miles around. As an experiment, scientists dropped gophers onto parts of the scorched mountain for only 24 hours. The ...

How Plants Evolved Multiple Ways to Override Genetic Instructions

Nov. 6, 2024 — Biologists have investigated the inner workings of DNA methylation in plants. Their findings could help engineer crops that are more resilient to environmental changes, like heat or drought ...