Flowers use physics to attract pollinators
A new review indicates that flowers may be able to manipulate the laws of physics, by playing with light, using mechanical tricks, and harnessing electrostatic forces to attract pollinators.
A new review indicates that flowers may be able to manipulate the laws of physics, by playing with light, using mechanical tricks, and harnessing electrostatic forces to attract pollinators.
Plants & Animals
Dec 5, 2016
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27
In plants that rely on animals for pollination, the number of seeds they produce, or their relative fitness, is influenced by pollinator visits and the successful deposition of pollen. The number of visits a plant may receive ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 10, 2011
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Aggressive African bees were accidentally released in Brazil in 1957. As "killer bees" spread northward, David Roubik, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, began a 17-year study that revealed that ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 1, 2009
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2
(Phys.org)—Nature's ability to create iridescent flowers has been recreated by mathematicians at The University of Nottingham. The team of researchers have collaborated with experimentalists at the University of Cambridge ...
Mathematics
Jan 10, 2013
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Most flowering plants depend on pollinators such as bees to transfer pollen from the male anthers of one flower to the female stigma of another flower, enabling fertilization and the production of fruits and seeds. Bee pollination, ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 12, 2021
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242
Fungi-eating orchids were found for the first time to offer their flowers to fungi-eating fruit flies in exchange for pollination, which is the first evidence for nursery pollination in orchids. This unique new plant-animal ...
Evolution
Aug 24, 2023
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45
President Obama recently launched perhaps the most ambitious national plan ever aimed at protecting insects. The National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honeybees and Other Pollinators calls for an "all hands on deck" ...
Ecology
Jun 16, 2015
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470
Who knew that it's possible to predict the fragrance of a flower by looking at its color?
Ecology
Sep 20, 2017
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113
Many farmers rent bee hives to pollinate crops, but they could tap into the free labor of wild bees by adopting an as-needed approach to pesticides, a new proof-of-concept study shows.
Plants & Animals
Nov 3, 2021
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632
With the summer season ramping up, experts with Texas A&M AgriLife said now is the ideal time to create an oasis for monarch butterflies that will funnel through Texas during their annual fall migration to Mexico.
Plants & Animals
May 23, 2024
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20