New botanic database holds a million plant names

Capping the UN's International Year of Biodiversity, botanists in Britain and the United States on Wednesday unveiled a library of plant names aimed at helping conservationists, drug designers and agriculture researchers.

How stressed-out plants produce their own aspirin

Plants protect themselves from environmental hazards like insects, drought and heat by producing salicylic acid, also known as aspirin. A new understanding of this process may help plants survive increasing stress caused ...

Pollinator extinctions alter structure of ecological networks

The absence of a single dominant bumblebee species from an ecosystem disrupts foraging patterns among a broad range of remaining pollinators in the system—from other bees to butterflies, beetles and more, field experiments ...

Scientists discover microbe unique to New Zealand

Professor Matthew Stott co-leads a team of researchers from Canterbury and Waikato universities that has identified an endemic genus of geothermal microorganisms—a discovery believed to be a world-first.

Sweden helps SKorea convert food waste into biogas

(AP) -- The South Korean city of Ulsan lets water generated from processing food waste run off into the ocean, which can generate methane gas harmful to the environment.

Some land in Japan too radioactive to farm: study

Farmland in parts of Japan is no longer safe because of high levels of radiation in the soil, scientists have warned, as the country struggles to recover from the Fukushima atomic disaster.

Powerhouse plants that bolster the food web

University of Delaware Professor of Entomology Doug Tallamy published a new research study in Nature that systematically identifies the most critical plants needed to sustain food webs across the United States. Alongside ...

How to help beneficial insects survive winter

While a decrease in insects as the weather cools is a plus to many people, Texans should keep in mind that beneficial insects in gardens and yards could use a little help.

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