Feature Channels: Plants

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What do nutrients do for plants?

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Policies and new technologies have reduced emissions of precursor gases that lead to ozone air pollution, but despite those improvements, the amount of ozone that plants are taking in has not followed the same trend, according to Florida State University researchers.

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Using a 22-year dataset of plant-caterpillar-parasitoid interactions collected within a patch of protected Costa Rican lowland Caribbean forest, scientists report declines in caterpillar and parasitoid diversity and density that are paralleled by losses in an important ecosystem service: biocontrol of herbivores by parasitoids.

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Transferring genetic markers in plant breeding is a challenge, but a team of grapevine breeders and scientists at Cornell University have come up with a powerful new method that improves fruit quality and acts as a key defense against pests and a changing climate.

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Scientists have identified the chemical cues in flowers that stimulate mosquitoes’ sense of smell and draw them in. Their findings show how cues from flowers can stimulate the mosquito brain as much as a warm-blooded host — information that could help develop less toxic repellents and better traps.

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During the past 20 years, insecticides applied to U.S. agricultural landscapes have become significantly more toxic -- over 120-fold in some midwestern states -- to honey bees when ingested, according to a team of researchers, who identified rising neonicotinoid seed treatments in corn and soy as the primary driver of this change.

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Winter-hardy hibiscus cultivars are what initially attracted Dariusz Malinowski, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant physiologist and breeder, to the world of flowers, but now he’s ready to splash a little tropical color into the market.

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Soils releasing carbon as gas lead to challenges on valuable farmland

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Will robots someday replace farm workers? Do we want them to? Oregon State University College of Engineering agricultural robotics expert Joe Davidson talks about the potential benefits of using robots in agriculture, and what goes into designing the perfect robotic apple picker.

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Sugar maples won’t be heading north anytime soon, despite climate change, according to a new study published in the Journal of Ecology.

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Nematodes are tiny, ubiquitous roundworms that infect plant roots, causing more than $100 billion in crop damage worldwide each year.

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Northern Arizona University professors Rebecca Hewitt and Michelle Mack authored the study, published this week in New Phytologist, which could have implications for researchers and computer models that predict where nitrogen and carbon go at both regional and global levels.

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While LED lighting can enhance plant growth in greenhouses, standards are needed to determine the optimal intensity and colors of light, according to Rutgers research that could help improve the energy efficiency of horticultural lighting products.

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As the effects of climate change are increasingly felt around the world, possible solutions, from reducing fossil fuel emissions to capturing carbon, have come to dominate policy discussions.

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In 2019, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory dove deeper into proton spin, took a leap in quantum communication, and uncovered new details of plant biochemistry, battery cathodes, catalysts, superconductors, and more. Here, in no particular order, are the biggest advances of the year.

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Scientists have created a new class of material that uses sunlight to absorb and fix carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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Make some room in the garden, you storied three sisters: the winter squash, climbing beans and the vegetable we know as corn. Grown together, newly examined “lost crops” could have produced enough seed to feed as many indigenous people as traditionally grown maize, according to new research from Washington University in St.

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Prior organic farming practices and plantings can have lasting outcomes for future soil health, weeds and crop yields, according to new Cornell University research.

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A research team led by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York has uncovered evidence that the transition toward forests as we know them today began earlier than typically believed.

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New research from Washington University in St. Louis provides insight into how proteins called phytochromes sense light and contribute to how plants grow. Biologists used sophisticated techniques to structurally define the sequence of events that support the transition between light- and dark-adapted states.

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Continually logging and re-growing tropical forests to supply timber is reducing the levels of vital nutrients in the soil, which may limit future forest growth and recovery, a new study suggests. This raises concerns about the long-term sustainability of logging in the tropics.

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Research published this week by University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists shows how bacteria can degrade solid bedrock, jump-starting a long process of alteration that creates the mineral portion of soil.

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In their first attempt to quantify stormwater ponds, researchers with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences found about 76,000 such ponds statewide. Many master-planned communities, especially in Florida, rely on stormwater ponds for flood control and water treatment. But the ponds also can be homes to many invasive plant species, which are costly to control.

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New research from anthropologists at McMaster University and California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB), is shedding light on ancient dietary practices, the evolution of agricultural societies and ultimately, how plants have become an important element of the modern diet.

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Researchers identify production strategies to help manage phosphorus

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The identification of natural carbon sinks and understanding how they work is critical if humans are to mitigate global climate change. Tropical coastal wetlands are considered important but, so far, there is little data to show the benefits.

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A new study, published Nov. 21 in the Journal of Chemical Ecology, investigates how these pests find their target amid a sea of other plants in the landscape.

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Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered a new function in a plant enzyme that could inspire the design of new chemical catalysts. The enzyme catalyzes, or initiates, one of the cornerstone chemical reactions needed to synthesize a wide array of organic molecules, including those found in lubricants, cosmetics, and those used as raw materials for making plastics.

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In remote areas with low literacy rates, showing animated videos in the local language demonstrating agricultural techniques results in high retention and adoption rates of those techniques, found researchers from Michigan State University.

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The first flowering plants originated more than 140 million years ago in the early Cretaceous. They are the most diverse plant group on Earth with more than 300,000 species. In a new study in Communications Biology, evolutionary biologists around Agnes Dellinger and Jürg Schönenberger from the University of Vienna have analysed 3-dimensional models of flowers and found that flower shapes can evolve in a modular manner in adaptation to distinct pollinators.

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University of Washington researchers have found that warmer temperatures, at levels expected under most climate change projections, can lead to higher concentrations of arsenic in rice grains.

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Researchers have created the first comprehensive database of all the wildfire fuels that have been measured across North America. Ultimately, it can help scientists make more informed decisions about fire and smoke situations.

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Benson Hill today announced the launch of Benson Hill Seeds, a business focused on delivering superior seeds to meet the evolving needs of the growing human food and animal feed markets, including the eMerge Genetics portfolio of non-GMO soybean varieties.

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One soil scientist’s journey through a soil pit leaves mystery – for now

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In a new paper in Science Signaling, researchers at the University of Hyderabad in India and the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine show that a plant-based compound called halofuginone improves the immune response to a potential vaccine against dengue virus.

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Northern Michigan University students enrolled in the nation's first medicinal plant chemistry program have access to cutting-edge instrumentation used in and beyond the cannabis industry through NMU's partnership with Shimadzu. Representatives of both entities recently dedicated a new lab on campus.

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Two Rutgers professors have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) this year, an honor awarded to AAAS members by their peers. They join 441 other AAAS members named new fellows because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. The fellows will be presented an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Feb. 15 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2020 AAAS Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.

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Extreme drought’s impact on plants will become more dominant under future climate change, as noted in a paper out today in the journal Nature Climate Change. Analysis shows that not only will droughts become more frequent under future climates, but more of those events will be extreme, adding to the reduction of plant production essential to human and animal populations.

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The University of Florida Tropical Research and Education Center is in the heart of the tropical and subtropical fruit and vegetable industries, and the ornamental plant industry. For 90 years it has served as an agricultural research unit of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). On December 4, an open house invites community and media to engage with the science.

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“Bioplastics—a better option for the environment?” is a compilation of information about bioplastics. These alternative plastics have become more popular, and as it turns out, they’re effectively still the same as petroleum-based plastic, according to Dr. McGuire’s document.

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Plants get stressed too. Environmental factors such as drought or a high concentration of salt in the soil disrupt their physiology.

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Diversifying crop production can make food supply more nutritious, reduce resource demand and greenhouse gas emissions, and enhance climate resilience without reducing calorie production or requiring more land.

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University of Adelaide wine researchers say their latest discovery may one day lead to winemakers being able to manipulate the acidity of wines without the costly addition of tartaric acid.

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A team of researchers at the University of Georgia has found a way to identify gene regulatory elements that could help produce “designer” plants and lead to improvements in food crops at a critical time. They published their findings in two separate papers in Nature Plants.

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You've probably seen a lichen, even if you didn't realize it. If you've ever meandered through the forest and wondered what the crusty stuff on trees or rocks was, they're lichens

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Natural genetic engineering allowed plants to move from water to land, according to a new study by an international group of scientists from Canada, China, France, Germany, and Russia.