It looks festive, but this invasive tree is infesting NW forests
“We were looking for English holly, a cherished Christmas symbol that is threatening biodiversity in the Pacific Northwest. We were there to poison it.”
The best forest managers? Indigenous peoples, study says.
Scientists suggest that long-term, local governance is the best way to save forests.
Do Not Taunt the Native Plants
South Bay Parkland Conservancy is taking the protection of native plants VERY seriously. Via @kelson@hyperborea.org on Mastodon.
Carnivorous plants have long been important to a balanced ecosystem. They have fascinated horticulturists and scientists for decades with their intricate ability to lure and capture prey.
Angiosperm flowers reached their highest morphological diversity early in their evolutionary history (OA)
Based on a comprehensive dataset focusing on 30 characters describing floral structure across angiosperms, López-Martínez et al. used 1201 extant and 121 fossil flowers to measure floral disparity and explore patterns of floral evolution through time and across lineages.They found that angiosperms reached their highest floral disparity in the Early Cretaceous. However, decreasing disparity toward the present likely has not precluded the innovation of other complex traits at other morphological levels, which likely played a key role in the outstanding angiosperm species richness.
Pollination services are affected by landscape context, farming management and pollinator community structure, all of which impact flower visitation rates, pollen deposition and final production. Ramírez-Mejía et al. studied these processes in Argentina for highbush blueberry crops, which depend on pollinators to produce marketable yields.
Auxin and abiotic stress responses ($)
Jing et al. summarize and discuss recent advances in understanding the intersection of auxin and abiotic stress in plants, with a focus on temperature, salt, and drought stresses. They also explore the roles of auxin in stress tolerance and opportunities arising for agricultural applications.
Soil legacy influences plant interactions with antagonists and below-ground mutualists. Plant–antagonist interactions can jeopardize plant–pollinator interactions, while soil mutualists can enhance plant–pollinator interactions. This suggests that soil legacy, either directly or mediated through plant symbionts, affects pollinators. Despite the importance of pollinators to natural and managed ecosystems, information on how soil legacy affects plant–pollinator interactions is limited. Davis et al. assessed effects of soil management legacy (organic versus conventional) on floral rewards and plant interactions with wild pollinators, herbivores, beneficial fungi and pathogens.
Abscisic acid biosynthesis is necessary for full auxin effects on hypocotyl elongation ($)
In concert with other phytohormones, auxin regulates plant growth and development. However, how auxin and other phytohormones coordinately regulate distinct processes is not fully understood. Emenecker et al. uncover an auxin-abscisic acid (ABA) interaction module in Arabidopsis that is specific to coordinating activities of these hormones in the hypocotyl.
Precise monitoring of insect floral visitors and their relationship with floral resources throughout the flowering season provides baseline information to help us understand long-term changes in plant-pollinator interactions and improve pollinator conservation strategies. Pan traps are one of the methods most used for monitoring insect floral visitors and several studies have already linked the abundance and richness of these floral visitors with floral resources. However, less research has been conducted into the effectiveness of pan traps for monitoring phenological changes in the floral visitor community with regard to floral resources. Chinga et al. used pan traps to study the species composition and the abundance of insect floral visitors and their relationship with flower richness in a coastal forest throughout the entire flowering season for two consecutive years.
Field trials comparing Three-strip management with Regular rotational management reveal positive effects especially during the second year, including higher bee abundance and diversity. Plant-pollinator networks also demonstrate increased interactions. While the study focuses on bees, the potential of the Three-strip management to support other beneficial insects is discussed. Given declining insect populations in agricultural landscapes, this paper offers insights into enhancing perennial flower margins as AEM to support pollinator populations. The novel Three-strip management presents a promising strategy for balancing management needs with diverse insect requirements, contributing to sustainable biodiversity conservation in agricultural settings.
The complexity of environmental conditions encountered by plants in the field, or in nature, is gradually increasing due to anthropogenic activities that promote global warming, climate change, and increased levels of pollutants. While in the past it seemed sufficient to study how plants acclimate to one or even two different stresses affecting them simultaneously, the complex conditions developing on our planet necessitate a new approach of studying stress in plants: Acclimation to multiple stress conditions occurring concurrently or consecutively (termed, multifactorial stress combination [MFSC]). In an initial study of the plant response to MFSC, conducted with Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings subjected to an MFSC of six different abiotic stresses, it was found that with the increase in the number and complexity of different stresses simultaneously impacting a plant, plant growth and survival declined, even if the effects of each stress involved in such MFSC on the plant was minimal or insignificant. In three recent studies, conducted with different crop plants, MFSC was found to have similar effects on a commercial rice cultivar, a maize hybrid, tomato, and soybean, causing significant reductions in growth, biomass, physiological parameters, and/or yield traits.
