Celebrating Plants and People
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Trees In Moist Tropics Are Dying Faster Then Ever Accelerating Climate Change
The trees that are able to cope in a warmer world by absorbing more carbon dioxide are at higher risk of death in multiple ways. Bigger trees are more vulnerable to lightning strikes and damage from high winds, and they must consume more water than their smaller counterparts. All that places them at greater risk…
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Marry A Tree To Save It From Deforestation
he ceremonies are known as the “marry a tree” ritual and is being held and supported by an organization named Bedani. “I think more than 30 people got married here, men and women, who freely said ‘yes’ to their tree. The commitment is more than a symbolic wedding – it is also a commitment that…
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Why Are Some Plants Rare? Look To Their Ability To Adapt To Soil Microbiome
Rare plant species suffer more from disease than commoner species. The fact that rare species are more susceptible to attack by micro-organisms living in the soil, such as fungi and bacteria, may in fact be one of the reasons they are rare. Biologists have been trying to work out why some species are rare, while…
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Leaving Nothing To Chance, Flower Uses Catapult To Hurl Pollen Onto Bees
Flowers are just about the last thing in nature you’d list as fast, but the mountain laurels’ filaments are an exception. The defining characteristic of the flowers, which are native to the eastern United States, is a series of 10 arms or filaments that act like catapults, flinging pollen into the air with startling speed.…
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Your Laptop, Even Your Car, May Someday Run On Pollen
This study explored the potential of utilizing pollens as renewable carbon sources for energy storage application and found that high reversible capacities are achievable with careful selection of pollen morphology. (Click on title for full report.)
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Rare Alpine Plants Found To Produce Even Rarer Mineral The World Wants
Naturally occurring vaterite is rarely found on Earth. Small amounts of vaterite crystals have been found in some sea and freshwater crustaceans, bird eggs, the inner ears of salmon, meteorites and rocks. This is the first time that the rare and unstable mineral has been found in such a large quantity and the first time…
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You Want To Take Herbal Cures, But Can You Be Sure The Herb Is What It Says It Is?
“Thanks to globalization, special medicinal plants that grow in a single region only have a worldwide market,” says Peter Nick of KIT’s Botanical Institute. If the rapidly changing superfood trends lead to a sudden increase in demand, these often cannot be met by existing capacities, the professor for molecular cell biology says. The result is…
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To Encourage Disease Fighting Mites, Plants Offer Housing And Food
One widespread plant trait hypothesized to impact the selective benefit of mite domatia is extrafloral nectar: a sugary substance secreted from non-floral plant glands (called extrafloral nectaries) that attracts and feeds beneficial arthropods. Although extrafloral nectar has typically been studied for its role in attracting ant bodyguards to plants, several recent studies have suggested that…
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Starlings And The Wild Chili Peppers That Need Them
The research team chose to focus on the chili plants in question because of the unique social significance the people of the Mariana Islands place on them. The harvested chili plants provide a source of income as well as a delicious ingredient for spicy foods. Many local residents claim that this type of chili plant…
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Trees Show That Major Geological Changes Caused Amazon’s Great Biodiversity
The research has produced a biogeographical scenario that confirms in this context the significance of the geological history of north-western South America during the late Miocene and early Pliocene periods about 5 to 10 million years ago. “We have actually discovered that the diversification of these two plant genera took place in parallel with major…