Endangered Plants News

December 1, 2023

Top Headlines

Genomic Study Sheds Light on How Carnivorous Asian Pitcher Plants Acquired Signature Insect Trap

Nov. 30, 2023 — Scientists sequenced the genome of the East Asian pitcher plant, Nepenthes gracilis, a species of carnivorous plant related to Venus flytraps, as well as sundews, beets and ...

How Far Can the Wind Can Carry a Plant's Seeds? New Model

Nov. 30, 2023 — Playing an essential foundational role in an ecosystem, plants contribute to the well-being of human health by helping create resources like food and medicine. Therefore, to better understand how plants can maintain resiliency in the face of ...

Vertically Farmed Greens Taste as Good as Organic Ones

Nov. 30, 2023 — Consumer skepticism about the taste of vertically farmed greens is widespread. But a scientific taste test shows that respondents rate greens grown vertically and without soil as just as good as organic ...

Researchers Puncture 100-Year-Old Theory of Odd Little 'Water Balloons'

Nov. 22, 2023 — Quinoa and many other extremely resilient plants are covered with strange balloon-like 'bladders' that for 127 years were believed to be responsible for protecting them from drought and salt. Research results reveal this not to be the case. These ...

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updated 11:08pm EST

New Research Suggests Plants Might Be Able to Absorb More CO2 from Human Activities Than Previously Expected

Nov. 17, 2023 — New research paints an uncharacteristically upbeat picture for the planet. This is because more realistic ecological modelling suggests the world's ...

A Tale of Two Proteins: Fundamental Research Could Make Growing Better Crops Like Clockwork

Nov. 14, 2023 — Rhomboid-like protein 10, or RBL10, is thought to be an enzyme that degrades other proteins in the chloroplast membrane, but its function is largely ...

Plants That Survived Dinosaur Extinction Pulled Nitrogen from Air

Nov. 16, 2023 — Ancient cycad lineages that survived the extinction of the dinosaurs may have done so by relying on symbiotic bacteria in their roots to fix atmospheric nitrogen. The finding came from an effort to ...

Genetic Discovery Promises High-Iron Vegetables and Cereals

Nov. 15, 2023 — A genetic breakthrough has opened new opportunities for iron-fortified vegetables and cereal crops to help address the global health issue of ...

Hemp Cannabinoids May Have Evolved to Deter Insect Pests

Nov. 15, 2023 — Cannabinoids, naturally occurring compounds found in hemp plants, may have evolved to deter pests from chewing on them, according to new research that showed higher cannabinoid concentrations in hemp ...

Research Provides Crucial Insights Into Moss Growth Under Elevated CO2 Levels That May Benefit Climate Change Models

Nov. 14, 2023 — Approximately 12,000 species of mosses exist and cover close to four million square miles of earth, equivalent to the size of Canada, and are ...

New Study Indicates C4 Crops Less Sensitive to Ozone Pollution Than C3 Crops

Nov. 13, 2023 — Researchers have studied the effects of elevated O3 on five C3 crops (chickpea, rice, snap bean, soybean, wheat) and four C4 crops (sorghum, maize, ...

Identifying a Silicon Transporter to Improve the Yield of Rice

Nov. 8, 2023 — Researchers identify a membrane transporter in rice that regulates the accumulation and localization of silicon in the ...

Plants' Ingenious Defense Against Mutational Damage

Nov. 6, 2023 — How do plants deal with mutations in their 'power stations'? By exploiting randomness to create diversity, say ...

Australasia's Hidden Pollination Crisis Could Threaten Biodiversity and Food Security

Oct. 30, 2023 — Australasia's hidden pollination crisis, mirroring global threats, could pose a significant risk to regional biodiversity and food security, new ...

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Summaries
Headlines

A Fifth of European Red List Flora and Fauna Species May Be at Risk of Extinction

Nov. 8, 2023 — A new analysis of 14,669 threatened species of plants and animals found in Europe reveals that about one fifth face the risk of extinction, and that agricultural land-use change poses a significant ...

To Restore Ecosystems, Think About Thwarting Hungry Herbivores

Nov. 2, 2023 — Re-establishing plantings of trees, grasses and other vegetation is essential for restoring degraded ecosystems, but a new survey of almost 2,600 restoration projects from nearly every type of ...

How Sunflowers See the Sun

Oct. 31, 2023 — Sunflowers famously turn their faces to follow the sun as it crosses the sky. But how do sunflowers 'see' the sun to follow it? Plant biologists show that they use a different, novel ...

Protein Root Discovery Seals Future of Climate-Proof Plants

Oct. 27, 2023 — Researchers have discovered a protein that seals plant roots to regulate the uptake of nutrients and water from the soil, the discovery could help develop climate proof crops that require less water ...

Discovery Finds Ferns Produce Crop-Saving Insecticide

Oct. 23, 2023 — Researchers have solved the structure of a novel insecticidal protein that is effective in protecting major crop plants like corn and soybean from pests and is naturally produced by ...

Plants Transformed Into Detectors of Dangerous Chemicals

Oct. 23, 2023 — What if your house plant could tell you your water isn't safe? Scientists are closer to realizing this vision, having successfully engineered a plant to turn beet red in the presence of a ...

Orchid Without Bumblebee on Island Finds Wasp, Loses Self

Oct. 17, 2023 — Because the bumblebee that an orchid relies on for pollination does not exist on a remote island, the plant gets pollinated by an island wasp. Researchers found that this came at the cost of being ...

How to Help Save Plants from Extinction

Oct. 17, 2023 — Now is the time to identify the conditions that cause plants to die. Doing so will allow us to better protect plants by choosing conservation targets more strategically, botanists ...

Mummified Feces Reveals Pre-Columbian Cultures of the Caribbean Consumed a Diversity of Plants

Oct. 11, 2023 — DNA analysis of mummified feces reveals two pre-Columbian Caribbean cultures ate a wide variety of plants, like maize, sweet potato, and peanuts -- and tobacco and cotton traces were detected too, ...

Epiphytes, Amazing Plants Like Moss and Bromeliads Found in Trees, Face Growing Threats

Oct. 11, 2023 — Epiphytes, plants such as orchids and mosses that grow in trees, draw nutrients from the air and create refuge for all sorts of other life forms. They are the foundation of forest canopy ...

Ancient Maya Reservoirs Offer Lessons for Today's Water Crises

Oct. 9, 2023 — Ancient Maya reservoirs, which used aquatic plants to filter and clean the water, 'can serve as archetypes for natural, sustainable water systems to address future water needs.' The Maya ...

Natural GM Crops: Grasses Take Evolutionary Shortcut by Borrowing Genes from Their Neighbors

Oct. 5, 2023 — Grass may transfer genes from their neighbors in the same way genetically modified crops are made, a new study has revealed. ...

Meadow Spittlebug's Record-Breaking Diet Also Makes It Top Disease Carrier for Plants

Oct. 4, 2023 — New research fueled in part by citizen scientists reveals that the meadow spittlebug—known for the foamy, spit-like urine released by its nymphs—can feed on at least 1,300 species of host plants, ...

Honeybees Are More Selective in Their Choices for Nutrition Than Previously Thought

Oct. 4, 2023 — An international research group examined which plants honeybees favor when collecting nectar and pollen. The choices honeybees make have an impact on their health and also on humans, as honeybees ...

AI Drones to Help Farmers Optimize Vegetable Yields

Oct. 4, 2023 — For reasons of food security and economic incentive, farmers continuously seek to maximize their marketable crop yields. As plants grow inconsistently, at the time of harvesting, there will ...

Timing Plant Evolution With a Fast-Ticking Epigenetic Clock

Sep. 29, 2023 — Recent discoveries in the field of epigenetics, the study of inheritance of traits that occur without changing the DNA sequence, have shown that chronological age in mammals correlates with ...

How to Save Plants from Climate Change? Just Ask Them

Sep. 27, 2023 — Climate change and a range of human-caused factors have disrupted the habitats of many California native trees and other plant species. Efforts to protect or relocate plant species would be bolstered ...

Genetically Engineering Associations Between Plants and Nitrogen-Fixing Microbes Could Lessen Dependence on Synthetic Fertilizer

Sep. 27, 2023 — Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant growth, but the overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture is not sustainable. A team of bacteriologists and plant scientists discuss the ...

Despite Being Properly Treated and Highly Diluted, Wastewater Still Impacts on the River Ecosystem

Sep. 25, 2023 — An experiment using water from a large wastewater treatment plant has shown that this water continues to affect river diversity and the trophic web (food web) despite being properly treated and ...

AI Increases Precision in Plant Observation

Sep. 22, 2023 — Artificial intelligence (AI) can help plant scientists collect and analyze unprecedented volumes of data, which would not be possible using conventional methods. Researchers have now used big data, ...

Wednesday, November 8, 2023