Close Encounters
Cycads attract beetles with heat in the night
Pollination looked different at the time of the dinosaurs. Without showy flowers, heat was used to attract beetle pollinators.
Close Encounters
How plants know when they are too close to each other
Sorghum plants can sense nearby plants through chemicals in the soil water, and this makes them slow their growth, which helps explain why planting crops close together doesn’t always increase yields.
Close Encounters
Anything Goes When You Live in a Crack
New research shows that the plants thriving in parking lots succeed not just because they are tough, but because they spread their pollen and seeds in many different ways.
Close Encounters
Glossy flowers allow for long distance romance
In the competitive world of plant-pollinator interaction, a little razzle-dazzle helps a flower be seen.
Close Encounters
Bait and switch: sweet Nepenthes nectar is toxic to the ants it lures
Pitcher plants prove, lethally, that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Close Encounters
Nature vs nurture: Untangling why mycorrhizal fungal diversity differs across orchid species
Mycorrhizal communities are shaped by orchid trophic mode and biogeography but not orchid phylogeny.
Close Encounters
Invasive Species Outperform Natives by Flowering Out of Season
A new study reveals how off-season flowering helps invasive plants outcompete native species.
Close Encounters
Unveiling Herbivorous Dinosaur Diets Through Calcium Clues
By analysing calcium isotopes in dinosaur teeth, researchers have revealed the feeding habits of Jurassic herbivores, shedding light on how they coexisted.
Close Encounters
Chocolate fights climate change with gene editing
Food Dive reports on an attempt by Mars to keep chocolate affordable and make your M&Ms CRISPR.
Close Encounters
When Pollinators and Flowers Have Timing Issues
Some plants don’t flower at the same time as their pollinators are most active, and this mismatch can actually help keep a wide variety of flower shapes and sizes in nature by changing which traits are most useful at different times.
Close Encounters
Tree-Microbe relationships run deep
Inside a tree can live up to one trillion beings. But seeing the bacteria hidden in its woody tissue takes a lot of work.
Close Encounters
A tiny carnivore with a voracious appetite
A tiny butterwort found in Mexico has surprised scientists with its ability to catch prey. It has to be efficient as it has only a brief time to get everything prepared for the next generation.