Eco-Friendly Superfood: Food-Grade Wheatgrass Variety Released for Public Use
Wheatgrass is packed with beneficial nutrients, which makes the crop a popular superfood. And now, more farmers will have access to growing this beneficial crop….
Plant Science News
New Research: Trees Absorb Less Carbon Dioxide As the World’s Temperature Rises
Warming Will Reduce Trees’ Ability to Slow Climate Change New research suggests that the most abundant trees in North America absorb less carbon dioxide as…
Virtually Captured: Biomechanical Snapping Mechanisms of the Venus Flytrap Revealed
The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) takes only 100 milliseconds to trap its prey. Once their leaves, which have been transformed into snap traps, have closed,…
Biologists Unravel Tangled Mystery of Plant Cell Growth – Insight Could Lead to Bigger Crops and Better Yields
When cells don’t divide into proper copies of themselves, living things fail to grow as they should. For the first time, scientists now understand how…
Yale Scientists Solve a Thorny Problem: Where Do Thorns Come From?
“Why do plants have thorns?” is an easy question: The thorns help protect against hungry animals that like to munch on the plants. “Where do…
DNA Shows Plants Are Extraordinary Chemists – Making Love and War
Gardenia’s newly sequenced genome highlights how evolutionary tinkering transforms plants into some of nature’s great chemical-makers. Plants are some of nature’s most extraordinary chemists. Unlike…
Tomato’s Hidden DNA Mutations Revealed in Genetic Study of 100 Varieties
Human appetites have transformed the tomato — DNA and all. After centuries of breeding, what was once a South American berry roughly the size of…
New Method for Capturing Carbon via Fluids Emitted From Tree Roots in Wild Forests
It is well known that plants use carbon dioxide obtained from the air in photosynthesis to use as energy and grow bigger. Naoki Makita and…
Fossil Discovered in the 1960s Finally Reveals Its Secrets: New Plant Species That Lived About 365 Million Years Ago
Antoine Champreux, a PhD student in the Global Ecology Lab at Flinders University, has catalogued the discovery of the new fern-like plant species as part…
Scientists Find Genes to Save Ash Trees From Deadly Beetle That Is Expected to Kill Billions of Trees Worldwide
An international team of scientists have identified candidate resistance genes that could protect ash trees from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a deadly pest that…
A Glimpse Into the Future of Diverse Tropical Forests
New method enables predictions for the development of species-rich forests. Tropical forests are a hotspot of biodiversity. Against the backdrop of climate change, their protection…
Hydrologists Find Environmental Damage From Fog Reduction Is Observable From Outer Space
IUPUI-led study is the first to find satellite data can detect fog’s impact on vegetation levels under climate change. A new study led by ecohydrologists…
Mangroves – Valuable Coastal Ecosystems – Won’t Survive Sea-Level Rise by 2050 if Emissions Aren’t Cut
Mangrove trees – valuable coastal ecosystems found in Florida and other warm climates – won’t survive sea-level rise by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t…
“Unparalleled Discovery” of Ancient Skeletons Reveals First Use of Maize in Mesoamerica
Almost any grocery store is filled with products made from corn, also known as maize, in every aisle: fresh corn, canned corn, corn cereal, taco…
How Some Crops Replenish Their Own Fertilizer Through Bacteria in Their Roots – A Surprisingly Complex Interaction
Plants need nitrogen in the form of ammonium if they are to grow. In the case of a great many cultivated plants, farmers are obliged…
Temperature Tipping Point for Tropical Forests Identified – Scientists Recommend Immediate Steps
All living things have tipping points: points of no return, beyond which they cannot thrive. A new report in Science shows that maximum daily temperatures…
Trees Are Getting Shorter, Younger – Changing Forest Conditions Started Decades Ago
PNNL-led researchers: Conditions that started decades ago are changing forests and are likely to continue. Ongoing environmental changes are transforming forests worldwide, resulting in shorter…
Climate Could Cause Abrupt British Vegetation Changes According to High Resolution Study
Climate change could cause abrupt shifts in the amount of vegetation growing in parts of Great Britain, new research shows. The University of Exeter studied…
