Close Encounters
What happens to carnivorous plants when the insects bite back?
A moth could be interfering with a pitcher plant’s reproduction by developing a taste for flowers – or at least parts of a flower.
Close Encounters
Pathogens can’t hide under the covers
Research published in Phytobiomes shows that cover crops could help improve the health of crops.
Close Encounters
Hawkmoths prefer for the young to eat with the competition
Food is critical for larvae development, so a good insect should lay her eggs away from other competition for food. That’s why scientists were surprised that female hawkmoths chose plants hosting competitors when laying eggs.
Close Encounters
Herbivores can cause dioecious plants to partly swap sex
Rather than inherently being ‘male’ or ‘female’, Mercurialis annua can produce flowers as a plastic response to its environment.
Close Encounters
When foraging for pollen from flowers, timing can be crucial
By timing their visits to twilight, just as nocturnal flowers are opening, some bees can grab most of Pseudobombax longiflorum‘s pollen.
Close Encounters
Asian squirrels go nuts for nectar
A rare plant found on Thailand’s highest mountain courts an unusual pollinator.
Close Encounters
Tree species mixing increases stand productivity and density
The benefits of the mixture come on top of the other well-known superiority of provisioning and regulation services.
Close Encounters
La susceptibilidad al síndrome del decaimiento súbito del olivo se relaciona con la anatomía del xilema
¿Pueden las diferencias anatómicas del xilema de dos cultivares de olivos explicar la diferencia de su respuesta a la infección por la bacteria Xylella fastidiosa?
Close Encounters
Impacts of herbivory on perennial grass species of the Northern Great Basin
How does herbivory impact the survival and growth of three perennial grass species commonly used to revegetate dryland ecosystems?
Close Encounters
What happens when pollinators bring the wrong pollen?
Surely once insects have brought pollen to a flower, then plant-plant interaction is over? Not so, says Gerardo Arceo-Gómez, who argues that heterospecific (or other plants’) pollen arriving in a flower might affect plant diversity.
Close Encounters
Cuando cuidar a los polinizadores es literalmente materia de cuidado personal
La polinización manual es sorprendentemente común en la producción de cultivos comercializados globalmente, incluyendo algunos de gran importancia económica.
Close Encounters
The colour of background vegetation reveals how bees see flowers
Studying how bees perceive flowers gives insight into how pollinators have influenced flower evolution.