How a harmful fungus renders its host plant defenseless
Ustilago maydis attacks and reproduces in the aerial parts of the corn plant. Huge tumor-like tissue growth often form…
Climate & Environment
Agriculture and the environment share an intricate relationship. Farming depends on natural resources like soil, water, and climate, while agricultural practices significantly influence ecosystems and the planet’s health. However, the growing threat of global warming and environmental degradation poses unprecedented challenges to agriculture.
Butterflies: 195 ways to help California’s painted ladies
By documenting hundreds of new nectar plants for painted ladies, scientists have renewed hope these charismatic butterflies may prove resilient…
Structure of ‘gliding bird’ plant protein could lead to better crops
Biologist Xinnian Dong says her “best Christmas gift ever” arrived in the form of a phone call. The call was…
Paleobiology: Complex family relationships
An international team of researchers led by LMU paleontologist Bettina Reichenbacher has managed to classify fossils of one of the…
Palms at the poles: Fossil plants reveal lush southern hemisphere forests in ancient hothouse climate
For decades, paleobotanist David Greenwood has collected fossil plants from Australia — some so well preserved it’s hard to believe…
Tree species diversity under pressure
In a new global study of more than 46,000 species of trees, an international team of researchers has shown that…
Resolving the evolutionary history of the closest algal relatives of land plants
An international team of scientists led jointly by the Universities of Göttingen and Cologne has deciphered the evolutionary history of…
New discovery of panda species which may have been Europe’s last
Lumbering through the forested wetlands of Bulgaria around six million years ago, a new species of panda has been uncovered…
Biologists unveil clues to evolutionary origins of brown-colored algae for health, biofuels research
Think of algae, and you might think of the brilliant green strands waving in a stream or the blue-green blooms…
iNaturalist app users play a significant role in helping researchers create global maps of plant traits
Missing knowledge in the global distribution of plant traits could be filled with data from species identification apps. Researchers from…