Author: zooplantman
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World’s Largest Trees Help Explain California Forests’ Bald Spots
But until now, scientists didn't realize how strongly rock type controlled forest growth patterns in the Sierras. Though the mountains may look like one massive granite blob, sharp boundaries mark chemical variations within the range. It turns out that even California's famed giant sequoias, the largest living trees on Earth, grow only in soil topping rocks with the right chemical composition
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Crocodilians can climb trees and bask in the tree crowns
The data suggests that at least some crocodilian species are able to climb trees despite lacking any obvious morphological adaptations to do so.
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Scientists Solve Mystery of World-Traveling Plant
By land or by sea? That‘s the question scientists have been pondering for decades when it comes to the bottle gourd, a plant with a hard-skinned fruit that‘s used by cultures all over the world to make lightweight containers and other tools.
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Botanists discover new “bearded” vanilla species in southern Vietnam
Out of the vast number of vanilla orchid species only three are commercially cultivated for consumption, the most common of which is the Mexican vanilla, now cultivated in Madagaskar. Other breeds are used in the perfume industry but most of the species are simply flowers growing in the tropics. Now Czech botanists have uncovered a brand new species in a largely unexplored nature reserve in southern Vietnam.
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Good news for mice! "Natural plant compound prevents Alzheimer’s disease in mice"
A chemical that's found in fruits and vegetables from strawberries to cucumbers appears to stop memory loss that accompanies Alzheimer's disease in mice
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New York Botanical Garden’s digital herbarium!
We are able to make a greater range of data available for searching, new records are posted instantly, users are able to download data, and georeferenced specimens can be mapped.
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Product claims to freeze aging skin
Plants that survive and flourish in the harshest weather conditions are the basis of a new line of anti-aging treatments.
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12 new species of carnivorous pitcher plants discovered among Kew
Most of the 12 new species described in 2013 are threatened and our Nepenthes extincta, published just before Christmas, probably IS extinct already , due to ongoing open-cast mining for nickel which is used in making the stainless steel that we all use.
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A Rain Forest Begins With Rain, Right? Is This A Trick Question?
I ask, because the answer is so going to surprise you. It's not what you think.
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Large Old Trees Sequestering Carbon
While they are alive, large old trees play a disproportionately important role within forest‘s carbon dynamics