Computational Models
A new whole-plant framework simulates realistic water and carbon flow
CPlantBox generates a variety of 3D full plant architectures and accurately simulates water and carbon flow in the full plant.
Computational Models
From stable rules to complex shapes in plant modelling
How can models capture the complexity and variation of plant phenotypes? Vidal and Andrieu have taken a look at maize.
Growth & Development
Palms show huge variation in their resistance to drought-induced embolism
This study represents the first estimate of drought-induced xylem embolism in palms across biomes and provides the first step towards understanding hydraulic adaptations in long-lived arborescent monocots.
Growth & Development
Spine type and resource availability affect when saplings grow their defences
For young woody plants, being eaten by large mammals is a major threat and source of sapling mortality. Some species produce spines as a form of
Growth & Development
Impact of sodic soils on wheat coleoptile length and root angle
How do plants emerge from the ground in tough sodium-rich soils?
Ecosystems
Thermal acclimation of plant respiration is tissue type specific
Carbon released from the land surface is one of the largest fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2) between the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface, with plant
Growth & Development
Maize is better when it’s hairy
Root hairs help maize take up phosphorus from the soil.
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.
Cells, Genes & Molecules
Root growth and plant height connected to an auxin-related gene
What makes a plant tall? Scientists think it may be connected to a gene involved in responding to the hormone Auxin.
Growth & Development
Stem and leaf growth rates define the leaf size vs. number trade-off
In trees, the trade-off between leaf number and individual leaf size on current year shoots (twigs) is crucial to light interception. This relationship has consequences
Growth & Development
The bzh root system reacts highly economically when N is scarce
In oilseed rape (Brassica napus) bzh dwarf plants have improved nitrogen (N) uptake, N-utilization and N-use efficiency compared to normal types. Is this due to their shoots, or do roots play a role?
Ecosystems
Drought tolerance strategies of conifer species in the northwestern US
As trees photosynthesize, using carbon from the atmosphere to grow and store energy, they also lose water to the air (transpire). During a drought, continuing to