Close Encounters
Daphnia are bite-size for the carnivorous waterwheel plant
The Venus Fly Trap is not the only carnivorous plant with a snap-trap. Aldrovanda vesiculosa, the waterwheel plant, has one too but it’s not always been clear how it works.
Close Encounters
Plants can prepare soils to give other plants protection against pests
It’s known that microbes in the soil can help plants fight pests. Now research published in New Phytologist shows that plants can be used to create anti-pest microbiomes.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Potato-associated bacteria can act as bodyguards
Bacteria found with potatoes can help protect their hosts against late blight. The aid comes from their volatile emissions.
Close Encounters
How does partnership work for a lichen in the Antarctic?
Lichens are partnerships between algae and fungi. In the Antarctic Lichens offer algae shelter against the cold, but also an uncertain future.
Close Encounters
Can insights from invasion ecology promote benefits from root mutualisms in plant production?
Ramoneda et al. propose specific experimental approaches to utilize the wild ancestors of crops to determine whether crop domestication compromised the benefits derived from root microbial symbioses or not.
Close Encounters
Woody plants work with microbes to shape the soil they live in
The B-horizon in soil is created through interactions between plants and rhizosphere organisms.
Close Encounters
Hybrids may succeed where invasive species fail as sea levels rise
Invasive species might suffer from a change in conditions in tidal areas, but their hybrid offspring may have genes to survive.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Wild tomatoes have the genes to partner with fungi
Foraging for nutrients is easier when something else does it for you, but how can tomatoes better attract a partner?
Close Encounters
Wild relatives of beans retain useful drought resistance
A new study of wild crop relatives of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) finds they retain useful adaptations to drought stress.
Close Encounters
Plant defences can be overwhelmed by a snail’s sweet tooth
Building up toxic metals in the leaves won’t deter snails from taking a nibble, if the leaf is sweet enough.
Close Encounters
Do carnivorous plants warn pollinators of danger?
It was thought that carnivorous plants put their flowers well away from their traps to avoid catching pollinators. Research from Asia suggests that something more complex could be happening.
Close Encounters
Do Oaks Encourage the Baby-Eating Chipmunks of China?
You might expect acorn-eating chipmunks to be the enemies of oaks. New research out of Henan and Jiangxi suggests that the chipmunks aid oaks because acorns are not the only babies that the chipmunks eat.