Renata Cantoro - Botany One (Page 4)

Open-Source Dendrometers for Real-Time Plant Water Monitoring

Scientists have developed an open-source instrument that can measure how much water plants have without hurting them, helping us understand plants better and use water for farming more wisely.

Renata Cantoro

03 May 2024

Taxonomy & Evolution

Scientists Discover How New Caledonia Birthed Over 40 Unique Palm Species

Scientists used DNA to create a family tree of New Caledonia’s unique palm trees and discover how they arrived on the islands over many millions of years through long distance travel and evolving to different environments.

Renata Cantoro

07 Apr 2024

A frond of Dicranopteris linearis in purple and gold.

Cells, Genes & Molecules

Green Goldmine: The Surprising Role of Plants in Rare Earth Element Accumulation

By analysing herbarium specimens, scientists found new plants that take rare earth elements from the ground, which could help get more of these important metals in a more sustainable way.

Renata Cantoro

23 Mar 2024

Computer generated moss in a digital nightmare because it's difficult to source an image of the moss that it's the one below

Growth & Development

When Moss Gets Messy and Spores Go Flying

Researchers found that a special kind of moss only release their spores when their pod structures open up in the dry air helped by wind, which blows the spores out, rather than just opening on its own in humid conditions.

Renata Cantoro

26 Jan 2024

Cells, Genes & Molecules

The Journey of a Tropical Plant Tribe from Africa to the Americas

Scientists used DNA to track how a group of tropical plants travelled across continents over millions of years and found that they were able to spread because they attracted a variety of animals to eat their fruits and excrete their seeds.

Renata Cantoro

12 Jan 2024

Brown seaweed held in someone's fingers.

Ecosystems

Seaweed hitchhikers catch a ride on limpets

Scientists discovered that some invasive seaweed can travel from rocky shorelines out into seagrass beds by hitching rides on the backs of foraging limpets, helping the seaweed spread into new habitats and competing with native plants.

Renata Cantoro

23 Nov 2023

Orange yellow flowers, with an unusual feature described in the article.

Cells, Genes & Molecules

How Gene Duplication Led to the Evolution of Nectar Spurs

Scientists studied how genes are turned on and off during flower development in a group of plants with special spur structures on their flowers, finding evidence that duplication of a certain gene helped the evolution of these spurs for collecting nectar.

Renata Cantoro

14 Nov 2023

A group of purple Serapias orchids, with inviting shelters.

Close Encounters

How Serapias Orchids Outsmart Self-Pollination

Scientists reveal how Serapias orchids ensure their cross-pollination through a special flower morphology interacting with pollinators in a particular manner, without the need for pollen masses changes as in many other orchids.

Renata Cantoro

08 Nov 2023

A woman holds a giant tomato and a man looks amazed, or possibly concussed. The image is in the style of a 1950s pulp scifi c

Growth & Development

Are Giant Tomatoes the Future of Climate-Resilient Crops?

Researchers in Brazil found a special part of tomato genome that controls the size of not just the fruit but also the leaves and stems. This discovery could help making tomato crops more resilient to different environments.

Renata Cantoro

23 Oct 2023

Plants & People

Unearthing the Hidden History of Ancient Agave Cultivation in the Southwest US and Mexico

Until recently, archaeologists had only a few clues about the importance of agaves to Southwest US and northern Mexico. But new research has revealed a hidden history of agave domestication in this region.

Renata Cantoro

10 Oct 2023