News tagged with plant ecology

Deterring signals: Tobacco plants advertise their defensive readiness to attacking leafhoppers

Following herbivory, plants produce jasmonic acid, a hormone which activates several plant defense reactions. Scientists found that leafhoppers can evaluate whether tobacco plants are ready for defense when attacked. If jasmonate-signaling ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Common fungicide wreaks havoc on freshwater ecosystems

Chlorothalonil, one of the world's most common fungicides used pervasively on food crops and golf courses, was lethal to a wide variety of freshwater organisms in a new study, University of South Florida researchers said ...

Biology / Ecology

created May 16, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

European mountain plant population shows delayed response to climate change

A modeling study from the European Alps suggests that population declines to be observed during the upcoming decades will probably underestimate the long-term effects of recent climate warming on mountain plants. A European ...

Biology / Ecology

created May 07, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 3

Same samples, different analytical strategies, complementary inferences

(Phys.org) -- The results of two separate but complementary analyses on 400 samples of Hanford Site groundwater appeared together in the journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology. The studies ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Study shows forest insects and diseases arrive in US via imported plants

The trade in live plants from around the world has become a major industry in the United States, with new imports now valued at more than $500 billion annually. According to a study conducted by researchers ...

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 09, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Which plants will survive droughts, climate change?

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research by UCLA life scientists could lead to predictions of which plant species will escape extinction from climate change.

Biology / Ecology

created Apr 06, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Bacteria tend leafcutter ants' gardens

(PhysOrg.com) -- Leafcutter ants, the tiny red dots known for carrying green leaves as they march through tropical forests, are also talented farmers that cultivate gardens of fungi and bacteria. Ants eat ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Mar 01, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Heavy metal pollution causes severe declines in wild bees

Wild bees are important pollinators and numerous studies dealing with pollination of wild plants and crops underline their vital role in ecosystems functioning. While honey bees can be easily transported to ...

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 29, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Invasive plant protects Australian lizards from invasive toad

An invasive plant may have saved an iconic Australian lizard species from death at the hands of toxic cane toads, according to research published in the March issue of The American Naturalist. It's an int ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 22, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 3

Jurassic salamanders with stomach contents found from Inner Mongolia

Paleontologists from Chinese Academy of Sciences reported two Jurassic salamanders with stomach contents from Daohugou, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, China, as reported in Chinese Science Bulletin online ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

New insights into invasive plant management

Over a decade of research at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has resulted in the development of a new matrix for invasive plant management. The model was created by scientists with the Agricultural ...

Biology / Ecology

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Fungi-filled forests are critical for endangered orchids

When it comes to conserving the world's orchids, not all forests are equal. In a paper to be published Jan. 25 in the journal Molecular Ecology, Smithsonian ecologists revealed that an orchid's fate hinges ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Dramatic links found between climate change, elk, plants, and birds

Climate change in the form of reduced snowfall in mountains is causing powerful and cascading shifts in mountainous plant and bird communities through the increased ability of elk to stay at high elevations over winter and ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Trees influence epiphyte and invertebrate communities

Studies in temperate regions have demonstrated that genetic differences between individual trees affect the ecological communities and ecosystem processes associated with them. Now scientists at Manchester ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jan 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Climate change models may underestimate extinctions

Predictions of the loss of animal and plant diversity around the world are common under models of future climate change. But a new study shows that because these climate models don't account for species competition ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jan 04, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 6 | with audio podcast