Celebrating Plants and People
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Sneaky plants and gullible ants.The Magic of elaiosomes
Seed dispersal by ants is a worldwide phenomenon involving more than 11,000 plant species (4.5 percent of all plants) across multiple ecosystems. In fact, myrmecochory is a key evolutionary driver for flowering plant diversity.
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With Larger Primates Hunted Out, Can Smaller Take on Seed Dispersal?
Early results from seedfall traps and census plots had shown that seed movement and tree regeneration were being impacted along a gradient of hunting intensities
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Plant Pests May Save Us From Climate Change (Well, sort of)
A new study has come to the counterintuitive conclusion that plants might accumulate more carbon in the presence of predators and herbivores than they do in isolated locales, where they are less likely to be eaten or trampled
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Forests may play bigger role in rainfall than estimated
A recent study showed that winds travelling through forests typically produce more than twice as much rain as those that blow over open land, leading to predictions from scientists that by 2050, the tropics could see a 12 percent and 21 percent decline in wet and dry season precipitation, respectively.
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Oily Orchids A Treat For Specialized Bees
Specialized hairs on the legs or abdomen (but not the mouthparts) of oil-gathering bees are used to collect oils, and the latter are then used as food for larvae.
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Can Non-Native Animals Be Good For Native Plants?
Native fruit-eaters have developed strong affinities for or against consumption of native fruit species making our native communities vulnerable to loss of key bird species. However, the exotic species are more than happy to make equal use of all the fruits available, thereby spreading their benefit more widely
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Chimpanzees Shop Carefully For Sleeping Trees and Have Favored Species
Our results suggest that the ideal sleeping platform tree species might well possess multiple advantages, perhaps possessing antipredator, antivector, thermoregulatory and comfort- maximizing qualities all at once. C. alexandri has all of these properties, suggesting that chimpanzees are keen observers of physical properties of trees, including stiffness, strength and leaf surface area, and that they select species that provide the widest range of advantages, including predator avoidance, postur
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Chinese herb beats drug at treating rheumatoid arthritis
Extracts of the herb have already fired the interest of drug laboratories as they contain hundreds of compounds, including intriguing molecules called diterpenoids which are believed to ease inflammation and immune response.
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You Can Do Anything With Bamboo. Anything
In recent years, bamboo has been used to make items never before associated with the plant – from shampoo and insect repellent, to socks, gloves, and even roasted peanuts
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Forest loss may be exacerbating disease outbreaks both in wildlife and humans
Much of his research examines the places where humans and animals are at a high risk of exchanging pathogens, and how human-caused disturbances, such as deforestation, can change disease dynamics and impacts.