Pollination is the biological process by which pollen grains are transferred from the anthers of a flower (or male reproductive structures) to the stigma of a flower (or female receptive structures), enabling fertilization and subsequent seed and fruit development in seed plants. As a reproductive phenomenon, it can occur via abiotic vectors such as wind and water or via biotic agents including insects, birds, and bats. Pollination encompasses both self- and cross-pollination events, and its efficiency and specificity critically influence gene flow, plant fitness, reproductive isolation, and the structure and dynamics of plant–pollinator interaction networks in ecosystems.
Floral scents play essential ecological roles, attracting pollinators and deterring herbivores. Geraniol, a monoterpene with a sweet, rose-like aroma, is a major commercial fragrance component widely used in the perfume and ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 17, 2025
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Researchers have gained new insights into the genetic basis of rye reproduction. They have demonstrated how plants recombine their genes and the extent to which this process is influenced by environmental factors such as ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Nov 3, 2025
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Using information on alpine plant species, researchers investigated how the chemistry of flowers' scent affects not only the diversity of insect pollinators but also the communities of bacteria living on the flowers.
Ecology
Oct 22, 2025
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Solar farms could become important refuges for bumblebees in Britain, a new study reveals—though their benefits only go so far.
Plants & Animals
Oct 8, 2025
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Bees and butterflies help produce our food by pollinating the crops farmers grow. In fact, 35% of the world's food crops, including fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, depend on pollinators.
Ecology
Sep 25, 2025
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Ko Mochizuki of the University of Tokyo has discovered that Vincetoxicum nakaianum (a dogbane species native to Japan described for the first time by Mochizuki and his collaborators only a year ago) mimics the smell of ants ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 24, 2025
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471
Spring in Australia has arrived like a celebration. Magpies are warbling in the morning, wildflowers are bursting open across bushland, and the air is humming with life as tiny creatures have stirred back into action after ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 23, 2025
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An international research team led by the Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research at the University of Vienna has made an extraordinary discovery: fossilized lime blossoms and fossilized bumble bees were found in 24-million-year-old ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 22, 2025
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124
Heterostyly, a floral polymorphism where a species produces two or three distinct flower types with reciprocal arrangements of stigmas and anthers, boosts pollination accuracy, reduces sexual interference, and encourages ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 18, 2025
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Sometimes, doing research stinks. Quite literally.
Plants & Animals
Sep 16, 2025
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