Climate change will bring worsening droughts that threaten crops. One potential way to protect crops is by spraying them with a compound that induces the plants to become more drought resistant. Now, by identifying the key molecular mechanism that enables a plant to minimize water loss, researchers may be one step closer to that goal.
People put on sweaters when they’re cold. Plants on the other hand, have to essentially knit one on the fly. Plants “knit” with their genes, and when University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers launch their Feb. 14 space experiment, they want to know more about how gene expression helps plants to adapt themselves to outer space.
A new study probes the origins of carnivory in several distantly related plants — including the Australian, Asian and American pitcher plants, which appear strikingly similar to the human (or insect) eye.
A plant always makes for a nice gesture on Valentine’s Day, and University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers are breeding flora that may emit alluring aromas to your sweetheart.
Aerial tree mortality surveys show patterns of tree death during extreme drought.
Breeding new varieties of chickpeas with desirable traits – such as increased resistance to diseases and pests – is difficult. In a new study, researchers evaluated four combinations of breeding methods and tested whether they increased the success rate of crossing chickpeas.
The American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), and the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) sent an open letter today to President Trump, asking that he “protect and defend the scientific integrity of federal scientists.”
One of the most detailed genetic studies of any ecosystem to date has uncovered incredible biological diversity among subsurface bacteria. This research has nearly doubled the number of known bacterial groups.
Increasingly popular techniques that infer species boundaries in animals and plants solely by analyzing genetic differences are flawed and can lead to inflated diversity estimates, according to a new study from two University of Michigan evolutionary biologists.
A new UdeM study of the flora "Down Under" breaks new ground by showing that soil biota play an important role in the maintenance of plant diversity in species-rich ecosystems.
New research shows that orchids relying on mosquitoes for pollination attract them by producing the same odors found in common mosquito blood-hosts. The results of this study will be presented at the annual conference of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in New Orleans, LA on January 7, 2017.
Wintry weather can pack a slippery punch. While use of salt on roads and sidewalks can return surfaces to a safer status, too much salt can have long-term effects on soil. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) January 1 Soils Matter blog post explains how too much salt reduces soils’ ability to retain plant nutrients and water, and damage soil structure.
A new study led by a Berkeley Lab research scientist highlights a literally shady practice in plant science that has in some cases underestimated plants’ rate of growth and photosynthesis, among other traits.
Extinctions related to climate change have already happened in hundreds of plant and animal species around the world. New research, publishing on December 8th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, shows that local extinctions have already occurred in 47% of the 976 plant and animal species studied.
New research led by plant scientists at Michigan State University has found that too much rain, coupled with prolonged high levels of humidity, can result in more plant disease.
Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis isolated an enzyme that controls the levels of two plant hormones simultaneously, linking the molecular pathways for growth and defense. Similar to animals, plants have evolved small molecules called hormones to control key events such as growth, reproduction and responses to infections.
Winter moths are creating a nuisance and laying eggs that may lead to another spring of defoliated and dying trees.
MADISON, Wis. – New insights into the mechanism behind how plants age may help scientists better understand crop yields, nutrient allocation, and even the timing and duration of fall leaf color.
An international team of scientists is providing new insight into the process by which plants use light to split water and create oxygen. In experiments led by Berkeley Lab scientists, ultrafast X-ray lasers were able to capture atomic-scale images of a protein complex found in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria at room temperature.
New X-ray methods at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have captured the highest resolution room-temperature images of protein complex photosystem II, which allows scientists to closely watch how water is split during photosynthesis at the temperature at which it occurs naturally.
Research into two natural chemicals shows how they compete to coat and change atmospheric particles created by fossil fuel combustion. The results could improve the accuracy of climate and air quality simulations.
Berkeley and Illinois researchers have bumped up crop productivity by as much as 20 percent by increasing the expression of genes that result in more efficient use of light in photosynthesis. Their work could potentially be used to help address the world’s future food needs.
Scientists are working to better understand the photosynthetic antenna complexes that capture sunlight for plants, algae and bacteria to use.
Researchers at the University of Oxford have demonstrated that the diets of organisms can affect the DNA sequences of their genes.
The latest research and features on Animals in the Wildlife News Source
New findings suggest the rate at which CO2 is accumulating in the atmosphere has plateaued in recent years because Earth’s vegetation is grabbing more carbon from the air than in previous decades.
URI Professor harvests student enthusiasm with hands-on research.
In a serendipitous moment, scientists studying light sensing molecules in plants have discovered that they are also temperature sensors.The discovery may eventually allow them to design crop varieties that are better able to cope with a warming world.
The new millipede also has bizarre-looking mouthparts of a mysterious function, four legs that are modified into penises, a body covered in long silk-secreting hairs, and paired nozzles on each of its over 100 segments that squirt a defense chemical of an unknown nature.
One of the most detailed genomic studies of any ecosystem to date has revealed an underground world of stunning microbial diversity, and added dozens of new branches to the tree of life. The bacterial bonanza comes from scientists who reconstructed the genomes of more than 2,500 microbes from sediment and groundwater samples collected at an aquifer in Colorado.
Of the many elusive grails of agricultural biotechnology, the ability to confer nitrogen fixation into non-leguminous plants such as cereals ranks near the very top.
Project Associate Professor Kenji Suetsugu (Kobe University Graduate School of Science) has discovered a new species of plant on the subtropical Japanese island of Kuroshima (located off the southern coast of Kyushu in Kagoshima prefecture) and named it Gastrodia kuroshimensis. This research was published on October 14 in the Phytotaxa.
Danforth Center research is addressing environmental issues related to production agriculture.
GUIDE-Seq technology observes DNA damages and speeds the detection of DNA repair. "Without DNA repairing, we wouldn't be able to survive," says Guiliang Tang, a professor of biological sciences at Michigan Tech who helped lead a new study exploring how the technology could improve the detection of DNA damage and repair processes in plants.
In one of television’s more bizarre recent offerings, the History Channel show “Appalachian Outlaws” follows a band of West Virginians as they hunt rugged forests for American ginseng, a medicinal root worth hundreds of dollars per pound. The show has high stakes: These men poach on federal lands, risking fines and jail time, and guard private patches with shotguns and homemade land mines. Most of them are out of work, out of savings and worried about paying for food and heat. Ginseng gives them a way to get by.
University of Adelaide researchers have made a breakthrough in investigating salt tolerance in plants which could lead to new salt tolerant varieties of crops, and also answer unresolved questions in plant biology.
From seed to closet, transforming the fashion industry through plant science.
Understanding root zone-soil interaction key to increasing sustainability
Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have mapped out two very different types of protein. One helps soil bacteria digest carbon compounds; the other protects cells from the effects of harmful molecules.
The treatment increases the efficiency of bactericide by ensuring that light and rainfall don't degrade the treatments before they target the HLB-causing bacteria.
Plants – even relatively small ones – played a crucial role in establishing a beachhead for life on land, according to recent work by an international team from China, the U.S., the U.K., and the University of Saskatchewan. The team found that early in the history of Earth’s terrestrial biosphere, a small plant called Drepanophycus, similar to modern club mosses, was already deeply rooted. This kept soils from washing away and even allowed build up as the resilient above-ground parts of the plants caught silt during floods. These plants – typically a metre long at most – helped form deep, stable soils where other plants could thrive.
Researchers have discovered an enzyme that plays a leading role in the formation of compounds that give aged wines their sought-after aroma.
Many popular long-term drought estimates ignore the fact that plants will be less thirsty as carbon dioxide goes up. Plants’ lower water use could roughly halve some current estimates for the extent of future drought, especially in central Africa and temperate Asia.
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It is easy to study what you can see. Researchers know a lot about how plants work aboveground, but what happens out of sight under the surface may control more than we once thought.
Plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric CO2 according to a new study from the University of Southampton. The research provides insight into the long-term impacts of rising CO2 and the implications for global food security and nature conservation.
A Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii) growing in the highlands of northern Greece has been dendrocronologically dated to be more than 1075 years old. This makes it currently the oldest known living tree in Europe. The millenium old pine was discovered by scientists from Stockholm University (Sweden), the University of Mainz (Germany) and the University of Arizona (USA).
A well-known family of natural compounds, called “terpenoids,” have a curious evolutionary origin. In particular, one question relevant to future drug discovery has puzzled scientists: exactly how does Nature make these molecules?
A study led by researchers from the National University of Singapore revealed that most tropical butterflies feed on a variety of flower types, but those that are ‘picky’ about their flower diets tend to prefer native plants and are more dependent on forests. These ‘picky’ butterflies also have wings that are more conspicuous and shorter proboscis.
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