For hundreds of years, plant taxonomists have worked to understand how species are related. Until relatively recently, their only reliable source of information about these relationships was the plants' morphology—traits ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Mar 04, 2013 5 / 5 (3) 1

Gravity affects the ecology and evolution of every living organism. In plants, the general response to gravity is well known: their roots respond positively, growing down, into the soil, and their stems respond ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Feb 04, 2013 5 / 5 (1) 0 |

Elementary school students often learn that plants grow toward the light. This seems straightforward, but in reality, the genes and pathways that allow plants to grow and move in response to their environment ...

Biology - Other

Jan 02, 2013 5 / 5 (3) 0

For centuries, humans have been exploring, researching, and, in some cases, discovering how to stave off life-threatening diseases, increase life spans, and obtain immortality. Biologists, doctors, spiritual ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Dec 19, 2012 5 / 5 (4) 2 |

As large organisms, trees face some remarkable challenges, particularly regarding long-distance transport and communication. In addition to moving water and nutrients from their roots to their leaves, they ...

Biology - Cell & Microbiology

Dec 07, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 0 |

A research team consisting of a University of Arizona graduate student, about 40 middle school students and a UA research lab has undertaken the first systematic study looking at how much plant leaves shrink ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Nov 20, 2012 not rated yet 0

Genomes are catalogs of hereditary information that determine whether an organism becomes a plant, animal, fungus or microbe, and whether the organism is adapted to its surroundings. Determining the sequence ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Feb 27, 2012 not rated yet 0

Bees, bats, and moths all follow their noses in search of food from flowers. Plants that rely on such animals for pollination often produce particular chemical scents that attract specific pollinators. However, ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Oct 26, 2011 5 / 5 (2) 0 |

Most of what we have come to think of as our daily fruits, vegetables, and grains were domesticated from wild ancestors. Over hundreds and thousands of years, humans have selected and bred plants for traits ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Sep 27, 2011 not rated yet 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Invasive species cost an estimated $1.4 trillion annually in their environmental and economic impacts worldwide and are second only to habitat loss as a threat to biodiversity. As scientists ...

Biology - Ecology

Aug 10, 2011 not rated yet 0

The DNA evidence is in, and Ben Franklin didn't do it. Genetic tests on more than 1,000 Chinese tallow trees from the United States and China show the famed U.S. statesman did not import the tallow trees ...

Biology - Ecology

Jul 29, 2011 5 / 5 (2) 0 |

The majority of orchids are found in habitats where light may be a limiting factor. In such habitats it is not surprising that many achlorophyllous (lacking chlorophyll), as well as green, orchids depend on ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Jul 12, 2011 5 / 5 (1) 1 |

As mountain pine beetles march across the forests of western North America, these insects may kill millions of pine trees during a single outbreak. A rise in overall temperatures over the past several years has increased ...

Biology - Ecology

May 31, 2011 not rated yet 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Contrary to what most people may think, the speciation rates of plants are not linked to the first development of a novel physical trait or mechanism. New international research shows that ...

Biology - Evolution

May 13, 2011 5 / 5 (2) 0

Two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists may have discovered "the map to El Dorado" for the American elm-a previously hidden population of elms that carry genes for resistance to Dutch elm disease. The disease ...

Biology - Ecology

Mar 30, 2011 5 / 5 (3) 2