Category: Plants & Animals
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American Bison Responsible for Producing Crops To Feed Indigenous Populations
“We don’t think of the plants they were eating as prairie plants,” she said. “However, this research suggests that they actually are prairie plants — but they only occur on prairies if there are bison. (Click on title for full story.)
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Can Leaf-Cutter Ants Teach Us To Farm Better?
“Ants have managed to retain a farming lifestyle across 60 million years of climate change, and Leafcutter ants appear able to grow a single cultivar species across diverse habitats, from grasslands to tropical rainforest” (Click on title for full story.)
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For Impala On The Serengeti Staying Put And Changing Diet Is Better Than Migrating
For impala, the migration they undertake is a ‘dietary migration’, where they switch from eating mostly grass in the wet season, to eating more tree leaves or ‘browse’ during the dry season. This ‘mixed feeding’ strategy makes a huge amount of sense, because grasses tend to be higher quality and more abundant food in the wet season, but trees tend to stay greener much longer into the dry season and become the better food source then.” (Click on title for full story.)
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Those Water Droplets On Leaf Edges Are Sustaining Insects
Many insects such as bees, wasps and flies drink the small droplets, which arise on nights with high levels of moisture in soil, and biologists considered them only as a source of water for insects. But the droplets are rich in carbohydrates and contain proteins that are essential for many insect species. (Click on title for full story.)
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New Threat: Invasive Coconut Beetle Attacks Guam’s Endangered Cycads
The unexpected addition of the coconut rhinoceros beetle to the list of cycad herbivores reveals the need for continued observation of the cycad population by species experts so conservationists can best understand which of the threats are most in need of mitigation. (Click on title for full story.)
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Plants’ Chemical Defenses Turned Against Them By Egg-Laying Moths
The plant defense substances serve as odor signals for females of the diamondback moth to lay their eggs on these plants. The scientists identified two olfactory receptors whose sole function is to detect these defense substances and to guide the moths to the ideal oviposition sites. They uncovered the molecular mechanism that explains why some insects that specialize in feeding on certain host plants are attracted by substances that are supposed to keep pests away (Click on title for full story.)
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Air Pollution Disrupts Pollinator Activity
“We were surprised, even shocked, that the innate attraction to the odor of tobacco flowers was completely lost in the presence of increased ozone levels,” (Click on title for full story.)
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The Unusual Way One Of The Oddest Plants – and The Tiniest Seeds – Spreads
As Balanophora fruits are some of the smallest among angiosperms, the fundamental question arises as to what mode of seed dispersal occurs in these plants. (Click on title for full story.)
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Unsung Ant Gardeners Of Temperate Forests
Far from just transporting the seeds, the ants are active gardeners, preferring some seeds over others and possibly keeping their charges safe from disease. “It’s becoming clear that it’s not a simple two-way interaction,” (Click on title for full story.)
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The Crickets That Spread Seeds Of Ancient Orchids
Although neither the cricket nor camel cricket can fly, they potentially transport the seeds long distances owing to their remarkable jumping abilities. (Click on title for full story.)