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Celebrating Plants and People

  • How Invasive Plant Threw An Ecosystem Off Balance

    Unfortunately goldenrod produces nectar later in the season than native plants, which apparently forces the ants to travel further and use more energy to search for food. Why does that matter? For one thing, ants play a pretty important role in the ecosystem. (Click on title or image for full story)

  • Using Lasers To Combat Citrus Disease

    A group of researchers from the University of Florida have taken a new approach to the disease by studying a unique application of lasers on citrus leaves. They have found that lasers, when used with the right settings, could greatly improve the success of antibiotic treatments currently being looked into as a way to stop the deadliest plant disease in Florida’s history. (Click on title or image for full story.)

  • The Ancient Forests That Couldn’t Die Properly And The Story Of Coal

    This is a story about trees—very, very strange looking trees—and some microbes that failed to show up on time. Their non-appearance happened more than 300 million years ago, and what they didn’t do, or rather what happened because they weren’t there, shapes your life and mine. (Click on title or image for full story.)

  • No Imported Seed Disperser Can Replace The Magnificent Diversity Of Moas

    It is thought that the extinction of these birds 550 years ago left indelible holes in New Zealand’s ecosystem and likely led to drastic changes in fire frequency, regeneration patterns and seed dispersal opportunities of plants. (Click on title or image for full story.)

  • Eat Your Greens Or Risk Extinction: Prehistoric Lesson Learned.

    The largest ape to roam Earth died out 100,000 years ago because it failed to adapt to eating savannah grass after climate change affected its preferred diet of forest fruit. (Click on title or image for full story.)

  • Marvel At The Lowly Dandelion’s Chemical Defenses

    Scientists …have now taken a closer look at dandelion latex. The scientists found the highest concentrations of the bitter latex in the roots of dandelions. Dandelions need to protect their roots very fiercely because these are the main storage organs for nutrients which fuel growth early in the spring. (Click on title or image for full story.)

  • Ancient Botanical Painkiller Becomes Modern Scourge

    Kratom’s narcotic effects have been known for centuries in its native Thailand, which banned the substance decades ago amid widespread abuse. Nevertheless, kratom being sold in the United States is still smuggled in from Thailand, as well as several other Southeast Asian countries. Western research of kratom is in its infancy. (Click on title or image for full story.)

  • Will “Resurrection Plants” Revolutionize Food Production?

    Resurrection plants have many of the same genes in their roots and leaves as seeds, so now she is trying to work out how to switch those genes in wheat, rice and maize crops so that they can survive droughts. (Click on title or image for full story.)

  • Extinction Of Large Fruit Eating Animals Worsens Climate Change

    Removing large animals from the ecosystem upsets the natural balance and leads to a loss of heavy-wooded large trees, which means that less CO2 can be locked away. (Click on image or title for full story.)

  • Arrival Of Humans Altered Plant Communities 300million Years Old

    The conclusion we reluctantly came to is that there have been systematic changes around the world in ecological conditions, prompting changes in the pattern of species coexistence. This is an aspect of global change that has never been noticed, or documented before. (Click on image or title for full story.)