Conifers are gymnosperm plants within the division Pinophyta, characterized by woody stems, predominantly evergreen habit, and reproduction via exposed seeds borne on cones rather than enclosed within ovaries. They typically possess needle-like or scale-like leaves with adaptations for reduced water loss, such as thick cuticles and sunken stomata. Conifers exhibit secondary growth via a vascular cambium, producing substantial xylem (softwood). Their life cycle features dominant diploid sporophytes and reduced gametophytes, with wind-mediated pollination. Ecologically, conifers dominate many boreal and montane forests, and biologically they are key models for studying long-lived perennials, wood formation, and gymnosperm reproductive biology.
If you want to know how rapidly pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere will affect future forest ecosystems, you have to look into the distant past. The researchers behind a new study published in Science have done just ...
Ecology
Aug 13, 2026
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For centuries, artisanal and industrial activities have left many soils polluted with excessive levels of heavy metals such as zinc, cadmium, copper and lead, posing a threat to the environment and human health. Cleaning ...
Ecology
Jul 30, 2026
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Kauri dieback is one of the most serious threats facing Aotearoa New Zealand's kauri forests. The disease is caused by a soil-dwelling microbe, Phytophthora agathidicida, which infects kauri roots and eventually kills the ...
Ecology
Jul 30, 2026
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In Europe, trees are increasingly dying prematurely. A new study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) on French forests now shows that it is not only drought but also unusually warm ...
Ecology
Jul 7, 2026
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Is it possible to study the history of viruses that emerged several hundred million years ago? An international team of INRAE and CIRAD researchers answered this question by exploring plant genomes to find the molecular fossils ...
Evolution
Jul 2, 2026
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Boreal forests are being clear-cut faster than some of their wildlife and plant species can recover, with a few failing to return even 100 years after harvesting, according to University of Alberta-led research.
Plants & Animals
Jun 29, 2026
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187
People's knee-jerk reaction to seeing death in nature is often not positive. The burn scar left by wildfire on a once-forested hillside, or a ghostly white coral reef, may evoke tragedy and despair. But in nature, most plants ...
Ecology
Jun 11, 2026
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An analysis of Quebec's forest inventory data developed by Concordia researchers reveals that the conifer population is on the rebound after decades of decline.
Plants & Animals
Jun 2, 2026
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The once-majestic oak tree is all but dead: battered by repeated heat waves, it has shut down vital functions to conserve water and is slowly dying in a French forest.
Ecology
May 29, 2026
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33
If you look at the trees as you're driving on the Trans-Canada Highway toward Banff National Park, you will see Englemann spruce on the cooler, wetter northeast-facing slopes of the Three Sisters. Across the valley—on the ...
Plants & Animals
May 26, 2026
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