Botany News

April 30, 2025

Top Headlines

Invasive Weed Threatens Southern California's Deserts

Apr. 24, 2025 — Once thought resistant to invasion, California's deserts are losing native plants to aggressive weedy species like Saharan mustard. New research shows its spread is disrupting biodiversity and reducing the desert's ability to recover from extreme ...

Controlling Starch Levels in Algae Could Have Biotechnology and Sustainability Benefits

Apr. 24, 2025 — High-starch algae are important in biofuel production, as a feed supplement in agriculture and as an efficient way to bind carbon dioxide. Researchers have now found a new method to control starch ...

Plant-Based Calamari That Rivals Real Seafood in Texture

Apr. 24, 2025 — Plant-based seafood alternatives should have similar flavors, textures and nutritional content to the foods they mimic. And recreating the properties of fried calamari rings, which have a neutral flavor and a firm, chewy texture after being cooked, ...

Newborns Living Near Trees Tend to Be Healthier: New Data Suggests It's Not Because Healthier People Reside Near Parks

Apr. 23, 2025 — The link between proximity to greenspace -- including trees and parks-- and healthy birth outcomes is well established. Now new data adds to our understanding of these health benefits, accounting for ...

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E-I-E-I-Omics: New Discoveries in Corn Genetics Could Help Grow More Productive, Resilient Crops

Apr. 22, 2025 — By analyzing DNA from different cells in nearly 200 lines of maize plants, research has revealed insights that could help growers better adapt their ...

How Bacteria Use Sneaky Chemistry to Disable Plant Defenses

Apr. 21, 2025 — In the microscopic battlefield of plant-microbe interactions, plants are constantly fighting off invading bacteria. New research reveals just how clever these bacterial invaders can ...

Sugar-Mimicking Molecule Central to Virulence of a Common Crop Disease

Apr. 17, 2025 — In plants, the space between cells is a key battleground during infection. To avoid recognition in this space, a strain of the bacterial tomato disease Pseudomonas syringae manipulates plants by ...

Introduced Trees Are Becoming More Common in the Eastern United States, While Native Diversity Declines

Apr. 21, 2025 — In a new study, researchers used more than 5 million measurements from individual trees across much of eastern North America and showed the rate at ...

Disrupting 'Communication' With Plants Could Limit Soybean Cyst Nematode Infections

Apr. 18, 2025 — A new study opens new avenues for combating soybean cyst nematodes, the most damaging pest for U.S. soybean ...

A New Record for California's Highest Tree

Apr. 17, 2025 — A professor's casual hike in the High Sierra turned into a new elevation record for California's highest tree, the Jeffrey pine, which wasn't formerly known to grow at extreme ...

Nutrients Strengthen Link Between Precipitation and Plant Growth, Study Finds

Apr. 17, 2025 — A new study has investigated how the relationship between mean annual precipitation (MAP) and grassland biomass changes when one or more nutrients ...

Forward Genetics Approach Reveals the Factor Responsible for Carbon Trade-Off in Leaves

Apr. 16, 2025 — Starch and oils are known as storehouses of carbon in plants. However, the way in which carbon resources are allocated during metabolism in plants ...

Meat or Veg? Plant-Based Protein Is Linked to a Longer Life, Research Shows

Apr. 15, 2025 — A global study has shown that countries which consume more plant-based proteins -- such as chickpeas, tofu and peas -- have longer adult life expectancies. Scientists studied food supply and ...

First New Plant Tissue Discovered in 160 Years Boosts Crop Yields

Apr. 10, 2025 — A research team has discovered a new tissue in plants that plays an essential role in seed formation by regulating the flow of nutrients into the seed. The team used their findings to increase the ...

Toxic Blooms in Motion: Researchers Map Algae Patterns in Lake Okeechobee, Florida

Apr. 23, 2025 — Florida's Lake Okeechobee is essential for water management but faces harmful algal blooms, which thrive in warm, nutrient-rich waters. Daily vertical migration enables them to survive in turbid ...

Growing Wildflowers on Disused Urban Land Can Damage Bee Health

Apr. 15, 2025 — Wildflowers growing on land previously used for buildings and factories can accumulate lead, arsenic and other metal contaminants from the soil, which are consumed by pollinators as they feed, a new ...

New Plant Molecule Encourages Plant-Fungi Symbiosis to Improve Crops

Apr. 14, 2025 — Scientists use small peptides to enhance symbiosis between plants and fungi, offering a sustainable alternative to artificial fertilizers. Plant biologists discover new plant molecule, CLE16, as well ...

Impact of Processing on Biochemical Composition of Plant-Based Products Revealed

Apr. 10, 2025 — A study showed that different processing methods significantly affect the biochemical composition of plant-based foods. Current food classification systems do not sufficiently acknowledge the ...

From Bacterial Immunity to Plant Sex

Apr. 9, 2025 — Could it be that one of only three known markers directly targeting the DNA does not exist outside the realm of microbes? Now, researchers have demonstrated that this marker -- N4-methylcytosine ...

Lactic Acid Bacteria Can Improve Plant-Based Dairy Alternatives

Apr. 8, 2025 — A new study maps how specific lactic acid bacteria can enhance both the flavor and nutritional quality of plant-based dairy alternatives. The findings may have wide-reaching perspectives for the ...

Researchers Reveal Why Young Plants May Be More Vulnerable to Disease

Apr. 4, 2025 — A new study reveals an evolutionary trade-off that young plants face to develop disease ...

Planetary Health Diet and Mediterranean Diet Associated With Similar Survival and Sustainability Benefits

Apr. 4, 2025 — A cohort study was conducted in Spain to compare the health and environmental benefits of the Planetary Health Diet (PHD) and the Mediterranean Diet. Compared to participants with low adherence, ...

Picky Eaters by Day, Buffet by Night: Butterfly, Moth Diets Sync to Plant Aromas

Apr. 3, 2025 — The scent of blooming flowers and fresh plant life is not just a perk of springtime; it is a key driver in the survival and evolution of butterflies and moths. New research reveals how the daily ...

Corpse Flowers Are Threatened by Spotty Recordkeeping

Apr. 3, 2025 — Plant biologists examined records for nearly 1,200 individual corpse flower plants from 111 institutions around the world. The data and records were severely lacking and not standardized. Without ...

Bees Actively Adjust Flower Choice Based on Color and Distance: Updating 'Flower Constancy' Beyond Darwin's Theory

Apr. 3, 2025 — Since Darwin's time, the phenomenon known as flower constancy -- i.e., where insects consistently visit the same flower type even when many others are also present -- has been understood as a ...

Plant Doctor: An AI System That Watches Over Urban Trees Without Touching a Leaf

Apr. 2, 2025 — Monitoring urban plant health traditionally requires extensive manual labor and botanical expertise, creating challenges for cities facing expanding green spaces, higher population densities, and ...

A Borrowed Bacterial Gene Allowed Some Marine Diatoms to Live on a Seaweed Diet

Apr. 1, 2025 — A group of diatom species belonging to the Nitzschia genus, gave up on photosynthesis and now get their carbon straight from their environment, thanks to a bacterial gene picked up by an ancestor, ...

A Step Toward Plant-Based Gelatin

Apr. 1, 2025 — Researchers present gum tragacanth as a plant-based alternative to gelatin for creating edible films. The team developed films containing different concentrations of gelatin and gum tragacanth and ...

The Food and Fuel That Farms Itself

Apr. 1, 2025 — Scientists have released new and more accurate genome sequences for five species of duckweed. Their research reveals the specific genes responsible for some of the plant's most useful traits, ...

Global Patterns in Seed Plant Distribution Over Millions of Years

Mar. 28, 2025 — Why do some plants thrive in specific regions but not in others? A study explores the factors shaping plant distributions and how these patterns have changed over millions of years. Analyzing nearly ...

Nature's Viny Vampire: Discovering What Drives Parasitic Cuscuta Campestris

Mar. 27, 2025 — Researchers have discovered the mechanism that drives the parasitic vine Cuscuta campestris to insert organs into plants after making contact with the ...

Human Urine, a Valuable Resource as Fertilizer for Sustainable Urban Agriculture, Study Concludes

Mar. 27, 2025 — The reuse of human urine would allow for the production of sustainable fertilizers for urban agriculture, with significant environmental benefits, a new study concludes. The research evaluates the ...

If Native Plants Are Going to Survive Climate Change, They Need Our Help to Move -- Here's How to Do It Safely

Mar. 26, 2025 — Many native plants in the U.S. cannot possibly move themselves fast enough to avoid climate-change driven extinction. If these native plants are going to have any chance of surviving into the future, ...

Getting Hit by Lightning Is Good for Some Tropical Trees

Mar. 26, 2025 — Getting zapped with millions of volts of electricity may not sound like a healthy activity, but for some trees, it is. A new study reports that some tropical tree species are not only able to ...