A new study reveals a complex interplay between soil fungi and tree roots that could be the cause of rare-species advantage. The researchers found that the type of beneficial soil fungi living around tree roots in a subtropical forest in China determined how quickly the trees accumulated harmful, pathogenic fungi as they grew. The rate of accumulation of pathogenic fungi strongly influenced how well the trees survived when growing near trees of the same species.
New research shows that ants inhibit at least 14 different plant diseases. The small insects secrete antibiotics from glands in the body. On their legs and body, they also host colonies of bacteria that secrete antibiotics.
Removing dead trees from the forests and reforesting on a large scale: this is the German Federal Government’s strategy against “Forest Dieback 2.0”. Scientists call for other solutions.
Evolutionary biologists have identified how herbicide-resistant strains of common waterhemp, an invasive weed, have emerged in fields of soy and corn in southwestern Ontario.
As their Latin name indicates, pineapples are truly “excellent fruits”—and thanks to a freshly completed genome sequencing project, researchers have gained a new understanding of how human agriculture has shaped the evolution of this and other crops.
Before Europeans arrived in America, longleaf pine savannas sprawled across 90 million acres from present-day Florida to Texas and Virginia. Today, thanks to human impacts, less than 3 percent of that acreage remains, and what’s left exists in fragmented patches largely isolated from one another.
Researchers have discovered a new function of one of the plant’s proteins – BAG4. In their study, they show that this protein takes part in regulating the plant’s breathability, the transporting of potassium to occlusive cells and, therefore, the opening of stomas, the pores located on the leaves and through which the plant breaths. This finding is especially relevant for the development of crops that are more resistant to drought conditions.
Scientists have discovered that soil microbes can make tomato plants more resistant to Bacterial wilt disease caused by Ralstonia solanacearum— opening new possibilities for sustainable food production.
Almond and the peach are two well-known tree species, since humans have been eating their fruit (peach) or seed (almond) for thousands of years. New research shows that the movement of the transposons could lie at the origin of the differences between the fruit of both species or the flavour of the almond.
Zingiberaceae, the ginger family of flowering plants, consists of 53 genera and more than 1,377 species. Amomum is the second largest genus in the family Zingiberaceae with about 150–180 species. During floristic surveys of northern Myanmar 2016-2018, researchers found some interesting specimens of Amomum in Putao, Kachin state.
