Plant news from around the world

Small but Speedy: Short Plants Live in the Evolutionary Fast Lane

Biologists have known for a long time that some creatures evolve more quickly than others. Exactly why isn't well understood, particularly for plants. But it may be that height plays a role, says Robert Lanfear of Australian National University and the U. S. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.

Norway spruce genome sequenced: Largest ever to be mapped

ScienceDaily Botany News - Wed, 05/22/2013 - 12:10
Scientists have mapped the gene sequence of Norway spruce (the Christmas tree) -- a species with huge economic and ecological importance -- and that is the largest genome to have ever been mapped. The genome is complex and seven times larger than that of humans.

Drought makes Borneo's trees flower at the same time

ScienceDaily Botany News - Wed, 05/22/2013 - 07:53
Tropical plants flower at supra-annual irregular intervals. In addition, mass flowering is typical for the tropical forests in Borneo and elsewhere, where hundreds of different plant timber species from the Dipterocarpaceae family flower synchronously. This phenomenon is all the more puzzling because both temperature and day length are relatively constant all year round due to geographical proximity to the equator.

Small but speedy: Short plants live in the evolutionary fast lane

ScienceDaily Botany News - Tue, 05/21/2013 - 11:14
Biologists have known for a long time that some creatures evolve more quickly than others. Exactly why isn't well understood, particularly for plants. But it may be that height plays a role. Shorter plants have faster-changing genomes.

BGCI Secretary General honoured

Plant news from BGCI - Tue, 05/21/2013 - 08:06
BGCI’s Secretary General, Sara Oldfield has been awarded an Institutional Honorary Doctorate by the University of Ghent, Belgium.

'Whodunnit' of Irish potato famine solved

ScienceDaily Botany News - Tue, 05/21/2013 - 00:12
An international team of scientists reveals that a unique strain of potato blight they call HERB-1 triggered the Irish potato famine of the mid-19th century.

Invasive species: 'Away-field advantage' weaker than ecologists thought

ScienceDaily Botany News - Fri, 05/17/2013 - 14:23
For decades, ecologists have assumed the worst invasive species—such as brown tree snakes and kudzu—have an “away-field advantage.” They succeed because they do better in their new territories than they do at home. A new study reveals that this fundamental assumption is not nearly as common as people might think.

Helping forests gain ground on climate change

ScienceDaily Botany News - Wed, 05/15/2013 - 11:50
Researchers in Canada have developed guidelines being used by foresters and the timber industry to get a jump on climate change when planting trees.

Untangling the tree of life

ScienceDaily Botany News - Wed, 05/15/2013 - 08:48
Phylogeneticists examined the reasons why large-scale tree-of-life studies are producing contradictory results and have proposed a suite of novel techniques to resolve the conflicts.

Power Plants: Solar Energy Harvested Directly for Sustainable Electricity

Plants are the champions of solar power. They can operate at nearly 100 percent quantum efficiency, which means that for every photon of sunlight a plant captures, it produces an equal number of electrons. Converting just a fraction of this energy into electricity would improve solar panels, which usually operate at efficiency levels between 12 and 17 percent.

Flower power fights orchard pests

ScienceDaily Botany News - Tue, 05/14/2013 - 09:14
Researchers have found they can control one of fruit growers' more severe pests, aphids, with a remarkably benign tool: flowers. The discovery is a boon for organic as well as conventional tree fruit growers. The researchers found that plantings of sweet alyssum attracted a host of spiders and predator bugs that in turn preyed on woolly apple aphids, a pest that growers often control with chemical sprays.

Productivity increases with species diversity, just as Darwin predicted

ScienceDaily Botany News - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 14:28
Environments containing species that are distantly related to one another are more productive than those containing closely related species, according to new research.

New non-GM technology platform for genetic improvement of sunflower oilseed crop

ScienceDaily Botany News - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 11:32
Scientists have developed techniques for the genetic improvement of sunflowers using a non-GMO based approach. The new technology platform can harness the plant’s own genes to improve characteristics of sunflower, develop genetic traits, which will improve its role as an important oilseed crop.

Climate change to halve habitat for over 10,000 common species

Plant news from Mongabay - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 10:01
Even as concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit 400 parts per million (ppm) for the first time in human history last week, a new study in Nature Climate Change warns that thousands of the world's common species will suffer grave habitat loss under climate change.

Land management options outlined to address cheatgrass invasion

ScienceDaily Botany News - Mon, 05/13/2013 - 07:33
A new study suggests that overgrazing and other factors increase the severity of cheatgrass invasion in sagebrush steppe, one of North America's most endangered ecosystems. Researchers said one of the most effective restoration approaches would be to minimize the cumulative impact of grazing, by better managing the timing, frequency of grazing and number of animals.

Invasion of the slugs; Halted by worms

ScienceDaily Botany News - Sun, 05/12/2013 - 19:16
The gardener’s best friend, the earthworm, is great at protecting leaves from being chomped by slugs, suggests new research. Although they lurk in the soil, they seem to protect the plants above ground. Increasing plant diversity also decreases the amount of damage slugs do to individual plants.

Sacred lotus genome sequence enlightens scientists

ScienceDaily Botany News - Fri, 05/10/2013 - 17:02
The sacred lotus is a symbol of spiritual purity and longevity. Its seeds can survive up to 1,300 years, its petals and leaves repel grime and water, and its flowers generate heat to attract pollinators. Now researchers report that they have sequenced the lotus genome. Of all the plants sequenced so far -- and there are dozens -- sacred lotus bears the closest resemblance to the ancestor of all eudicots, a broad category of flowering plants that includes apple, cabbage, cactus, coffee and tobacco.

Plant Conservation Day and Second International Fascination of Plants Day – 18th May 2013

Plant news from BGCI - Fri, 05/10/2013 - 07:33
Botanic gardens, museums, science centres, universities, schools, and many others worldwide will all be celebrating the wonders and importance of plants on Saturday 18th May 2013 for the second ever international “Fascination of Plants Day” (FoPD), whihc coincides with Plant Conservation Day

Loss of eastern hemlock will affect forest water use

ScienceDaily Botany News - Thu, 05/09/2013 - 11:36
The loss of eastern hemlock from forests in the Southern Appalachian region of the United States could permanently change the area's hydrologic cycle, reports a new study.

'Power plants': How to harvest electricity directly from plants

ScienceDaily Botany News - Thu, 05/09/2013 - 09:43
The sun provides the most abundant source of energy on the planet. However, only a tiny fraction of the solar radiation on Earth is converted into useful energy.
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