Celebrating Plants and People
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Toxins In Nectar And Pollen Affect Pollinators
This new study shows how plant chemicals can work in beneficial ways. “Plant chemicals in nectar and pollen can mediate specialisation in pollinators, can drive plant pollinator interactions and can simply be toxic to pollinators where they have been selected for another purpose in the plant, such as defence against herbivores,”
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Plants Adapting To Deer Browsing
Rampant deer have long been munching away on forest plants and altering ecosystems, but new evidence suggests some plants are evolving tolerance to being eaten.
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Chemistry Fun With Poinsettia
A number of different indicators are available to test for the pH of a solution (a number of which were summarised in a previous graphic), but you can also make a pH indicator from the leaves of the poinsettia plant. Whilst we’re discussing them, poinsettias also have a reputation for being poisonous – a claim that is in fact entirely unfounded.
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Bonobos Resemble Us In So Many Ways. They Garden
Recent research shows elephants disperse seeds approximately 57km from the parent tree, making the African elephant a powerfully effective “gardener.” But the new study shows that bonobos are also effective seed dispersers.
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Tiny Plants Migrate On The Wings Of Birds
Since the days of Darwin, biologists have questioned why certain plants occur in widely separated places, the farthest reaches of North American and the Southern tip of South America but nowhere in between. How did they get there?
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What Plants Taught Darwin
Most popular narratives of Darwin and the Galapagos concentrate on the far more celebrated finches or the giant tortoises. Yet when he finally published On the Origin of Species almost 25 years later, Darwin made no mention of these creatures. In his discussion of the Galapagos, he dwelt almost exclusively on the islands’ plants.
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Mapping How Climate Change Affects Tree Species’ Range
The maps in this atlas forecast future suitable habitat for North American forest tree species under two climate change models, and predict the parts of tree ranges that will be under the greatest climate change pressure.
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Mulch Type Matters To Pollinators
Results showed that mulch type had specific effects on pollinator and crop performance, and suggested that certain types of mulch may be more conducive to squash bee nesting than others.
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Our Pharmaceuticals Are Affecting Our Crop Plants
The drugs we release into the environment are likely to have a significant impact on plant growth, finds a new study
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African Slaves Applied Plant Knowledge To New Surroundings
Our study confirms the role of Africans as significant agents of environmental knowledge in the New World.