Rainforest plant developed sonar dish to attract pollinating bats

The researchers discovered that a rainforest vine, pollinated by bats, has evolved dish-shaped leaves with such conspicuous echoes that nectar-feeding bats can find its flowers twice as fast by echolocation. The study is ...

How do bees make honey? It's not just bee barf

(Phys.org) —Last weekend, my daughter asked me how bees made honey, and I realized that I didn't know the answer. How do bees make honey? I did some homework, and can now explain it to her – and to you.

Acacias use ants to guard flowers

(PhysOrg.com) -- Research by Dr Nigel Raine, Senior Lecturer in Animal Behaviour at Royal Holloway, University of London has revealed how a special plant-ant relationship thrives on give and take for mutual benefit.

Nectar: A sweet reward from plants to attract pollinators

Evolution is based on diversity, and sexual reproduction is key to creating a diverse population that secures competitiveness in nature. Plants had to solve a problem: they needed to find ways to spread their genetic material. ...

Parasitized bees are self-medicating in the wild, study finds

Bumblebees infected with a common intestinal parasite are drawn to flowers whose nectar and pollen have a medicinal effect, a Dartmouth-led study shows. The findings suggest that plant chemistry could help combat the decline ...

Ants and carnivorous plants conspire for mutualistic feeding

An insect-eating pitcher plant teams up with ants to prevent mosquito larvae from stealing its nutrients, according to research published May 22 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Mathias Scharmann and colleagues from ...

page 1 from 4