Alismatales is an order of monocotyledonous flowering plants within the clade Alismatidae, encompassing predominantly herbaceous, often aquatic or semi-aquatic species. It includes families such as Alismataceae, Hydrocharitaceae, and Araceae, characterized by features like basal or rosette-forming leaves, aerenchymatous tissues facilitating buoyancy and gas exchange, and frequently reduced or specialized floral structures adapted to hydrophily or emergent pollination strategies. Members exhibit diverse vegetative morphologies, from submerged linear leaves to broad emergent blades, and often possess rhizomatous or stoloniferous growth enabling clonal propagation. Alismatales is notable in evolutionary studies for multiple independent adaptations to freshwater and marine environments among angiosperms.
Evolution works over millennia. Climate change is moving far faster. That mismatch is killing some of the planet's most vital ecosystems, from California's towering redwoods to the seagrass meadows along its coast, both of ...
Ecology
Apr 10, 2026
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New research led by scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography is shining a spotlight on one of the ocean's most overlooked habitats: seagrass. Led by Scripps Oceanography Ph.D. candidate Rilee Sanders, ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 24, 2026
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Duckweed is the fastest-growing flowering plant, but new knowledge of duckweed genetics discovered by Adelaide University researchers could lead to even faster growing rates. The research team, led by Professor Nikolai Borisjuk ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 27, 2026
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Fish caught in the same trawl and sold under the same name may in fact have significant genetic differences. Beneath the surface of the Skagerrak lies a biological diversity that is rarely seen in fishmongers. "If management ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 26, 2026
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Florida's Indian River Lagoon (IRL), one of the state's most ecologically productive estuaries, is facing a growing but invisible threat that could reshape its marine ecosystems. Over the past decade, the lagoon has suffered ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 3, 2026
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The expansive, dense eelgrass beds that line much of the U.S. coastline provide invaluable habitat and other services to support rich coastal ecosystems.
Ecology
Dec 17, 2025
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