Growth & Development
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.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
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.
Ecosystems
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.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
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.
Close Encounters
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.
Growth & Development
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.
Plants & People
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.
Growth & Development
Underground trees, a type of geoxyles occurring in Afrotropical savannas and grasslands, have unique and diverse ways of surviving in tough environments, according to recent research.
Close Encounters
Fungus gnats like red flowers with short stamens and a strong smell of acetoin, and scientists found that Euonymus plants have evolved these traits to attract these flies for pollination.
Close Encounters
Scientists studied how the scents of a Solanaceae species vary and how they affect pollinator visitation and found that although floral perfume is an important factor, other signals might affect pollinators visits.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Plants have an amazing ability to remember and adapt to different environments, which helps them survive and grow better, and scientists are using different scientific approaches to understand how this works, unlocking the secrets of nature.
Growth & Development
Scientists studied how plants in the Amazonian savannas survive in dry conditions. They found that different plants have unique ways of persisting in this challenging environment, like having thick leaves or special structures in their branches, which help them grow in this unique ecosystem.