Ecosystems
The Expedition Continues, Colombia
Patrick Gibson reviews a book about José Celestino Mutis’s botanical expedition to what is now Colombia, as well as his scientific and artistic legacy.
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.
Computational Models
Exploring the synergy of canopy architecture and nitrogen partitioning
Models uncover how plants coordinate architectural characteristics and photosynthetic nitrogen allocation to optimize photosynthesis.
Close Encounters
A Journey into the past in Search of Agapetes’ Pollinators: Could They Have Been Extinct Hummingbirds?
Agapetes species native to the Himalayas exhibit red, tubular, pendulous flowers, characteristic of hummingbird pollination. However, these birds are not found on the Asian continent! Kriebel and colleagues reconstructed the evolutionary history of the family to test the hypothesis that now-extinct
Growth & Development
Turning the Key in Wakehurst’s Vault to Combat Climate Change
Researchers from the most prominent native plant seed bank use innovative modelling to better inform plant conservation and restoration under the pressure of future climate change.
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.
Ecosystems
Tackling Plant Biodiversity Conservation in the Anthropocene
A global team of plant experts harnessed new tools to map worldwide hotspots of botanical evolution over millions of years, revealing overlooked regions crucial for protecting nature’s phylogenetic diversity against extinction.
Ecosystems
Climate and competition limit the spread of a damaging grass
Research shows climate and competition with other plants stop the damaging invasive grass Johnsongrass from spreading further across the USA.
News in Brief
Plants get a buzz from pollination and other stories
Some plants have been found and that’s good news, while for others it was bad. Another compilation of the stories we’ve been sharing on social media.
News in Brief
Comparing iNaturalist to herbarium data, and other stories
How do citizen scientists compare with digitised herbarium data? A question asked by one of the papers we shared on social media over the past day.
News in Brief
Rogue Space Tomato, Zombie fires, and other stories
Another round-up of the stories we’ve shared on social media over the past day.
News in Brief
A plant buried over 140 years ago surprises modern botanists and other stories
An experiment that’s been running for over 140 years has thrown up a surprise and some botanists helping create habitats for injured birds were among the stories we shared yesterday.