News tagged with tropical plant

New research may improve the efficiency of the biofuel production cycle

(Phys.org) -- Using new experimental methods and computational analysis, a team of scientists from the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), led by Lawrence Livermore's Michael Thelen, discovered how certain bacteria ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Being small has its advantages, if you are a leaf

(PhysOrg.com) -- The size of leaves can vary by a factor of 1,000 across plant species, but until now, the reason why has remained a mystery. A new study by an international team of scientists led by UCLA ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 06, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

First rainforests arose when plants solved plumbing problem

A team of scientists, including several from the Smithsonian Institution, discovered that leaves of flowering plants in the world's first rainforests had more veins per unit area than leaves ever had before. ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 03, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Out Of The Woods For 'Ardi': Scientists Rip Habitat Claim for 'Breakthrough of the Year'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ardipithecus ramidus - a purported human ancestor that was dubbed Science magazine's 2009 "Breakthrough of the Year" - is coming under fire from scientists who say there is scant evidence for he ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 27, 2010 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Trace element plays major role in tropical forest nitrogen cycle

A new paper by researchers from the University of Georgia and Princeton University sheds light on the critical part played by a little-studied element, molybdenum, in the nutrient cycles of tropical forests. Understanding ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

European grasslands challenge rainforests as the most species-rich spaces on Earth

The city of Manila holds the human world record for the most densely populated space and now an international team of ecologists are seeking the natural equivalent, the most species rich area on earth. The team's findings, ...

Biology / Ecology

created Mar 15, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Natural levels of nitrogen in tropical forests may increase vulnerability to pollution

(PhysOrg.com) -- Waterways in remote, pristine tropical forests located in the Caribbean and Central America contain levels of nitrogen comparable to amounts found in streams and rivers flowing through polluted forests in ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | 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

NASA map sees Earth's trees in a new light

A NASA-led science team has created an accurate, high-resolution map of the height of Earth's forests. The map will help scientists better understand the role forests play in climate change and how their heights ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

World's forests' role in carbon storage immense, profound

Until now, scientists were uncertain about how much and where in the world terrestrial carbon is being stored. In the July 14 issue of Science Express, scientists report that, between 1990 and 2007, the world's forests stored ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 18, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

How ants tame the wilderness: Rainforest species use chemicals to identify which plants to prune

Survival in the depths of the tropical rainforest not only depends on a species' ability to defend itself, but can be reliant on the type of cooperation researchers discovered between ants and tropical trees. ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Tropical biodiversity is about the neighbors

Home to jaguars, harpy eagles and red-eyed tree frogs, tropical forests support some of the rarest species on the planet and are the most biodiverse ecosystems on land. Understanding why some species are common ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jun 25, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Flowering lantana draws butterflies -- but little water

Big color, little water, lots of butterflies. How does that sound? That's the story of lantana in a nutshell. But I'm famous for verbosely pontificating on the attributes of plants whenever I have an audience, so let's dig ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Sep 11, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Climate caused biodiversity booms and busts in ancient plants and mammals

(PhysOrg.com) -- A period of global warming from 53 million to 47 million years ago strongly influenced plants and animals, spurring a biodiversity boom in western North America, researchers from three research museums report ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 05, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 1

Ferns took to the trees and thrived

(PhysOrg.com) -- As flowering plants like giant trees quickly rose to dominate plant communities during the Cretaceous period, the ferns that had preceded them hardly saw it as a disappointment.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 02, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0