Celebrating Plants and People
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Plants Compete For Ant Seed Dispersers
The researchers hypothesized that the staggered timing of seed release by ant-dependent plants has been shaped by competition, through which plants with less desirable (smaller) seeds avoid competing with plants with more desirable (larger) seeds.
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True Community: Trees Of Different Species Connected, Supporting Each Other
This phenomenon amazes me. On the face of it, it appears as if the douglas-fir is acting altruistically (without expectation of return) to help neighbors of a completely different species in light of its own probable demise. Even without the altruism, that trees as widely unrelated as douglas-fir and ponderosa pine can transfer resources to…
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Can These Women Save Africa’s Miracle Tree?
The lives of two Kenyan women Dorothy and Mary couldn’t be more different. One is used to life in the city, the other in a village. One is young and ambitious about her upcoming professional life, one has already retired. Dorothy and Mary do not know each other but they share one thing: Their commitment…
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The Oldest Baobab in Madagascar? (1,600 years!)
According to accurate dating results, the fony baobab becomes the second Adansonia species with individuals that can live over 1,000 yr. On the other hand, by its age, the Grandmother is a major candidate for being the oldest baobab of Madagascar.
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Invasive Ants and Invasive Plants Damaging South African Plant Communities
It is worrying that a number of large-seeded native plant species in invaded areas are not being dispersed at all. Even more concerning was that while removal of native seeds varied between invaded and non-invaded sites, there was no significant difference in removal of invasive seeds. This hints at a possible synergy between invasive ants…
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Healthy Forests Essential For Food Security
New research has shown that even deforestation could make things worse, as forests have proven themselves to be more important to global food security than previously thought.
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Does Spring Pollen Cause Rain?
It’s possible that when trees emit pollen, that makes clouds, which in turn makes rain and that feeds back into the trees and can influence the whole growth cycle of the plant.
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Scientists Discover WHY Earlier Spring Produces Earlier Flowers
It seems that plants aim to flower not at a particular time of year, but when the optimal temperature for seed set is approaching. If the climate warms plants are clever enough to recognise this and adjust their flowering time accordingly and it feels like spring comes earlier in the year.
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Once the King of American Hardwoods, Now Treated As A Weed
As the strongest timber in North America, black locust helped build Jamestown and hardened the navy that decided the War of 1812, yet today few Americans have heard of it. The nation’s taste in ornamental trees has changed fairly dramatically since the first street plantings were made in Williamsburg, Virginia, in the 1730s.
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Birds Choose Backyards With Native Plants
When nonnative plants replace natives, entire food webs are disrupted by the loss of specialized plant-eating insects—the most important food for animals ranging from other insects and spiders to reptiles and amphibians to mammals and birds.