Satellite data reveals a significant cooling impact of vegetation on land surface temperature in the Arabian Peninsula. The study underscores the potential of greening dry areas to mitigate heat stress. The balance between increased evapotranspiration and reduced albedo determines outcomes, emphasizing the need for sustainable water management in climate change adaptation.
Plants avoid mutational damage buildup by leveraging randomness in a process called segregation. Unlike passing on the same mutation to all offspring, plants distribute inherited damage randomly, with some offspring inheriting more mutations than others. This segregation process, faster in plants than in humans, holds agricultural promise. Understanding how plants handle mutational variations in their DNA could aid crop breeders in introducing beneficial mutations for enhanced yield. The study’s findings advance knowledge crucial for crop breeding and yield enhancement.
New research could help breed plants that are more productive as days grow shorter. The research found that when days are shorter, plants have less time to photosynthesize, so they need to be more efficient with the sunlight they do receive. Plants store more sugar as starch during the day so that they have energy to use during the longer night. These findings could help to develop new crop varieties that can grow in a wider range of climates.
Sphagnum divinum, a resilient type of peat moss, is actively evolving in response to hot, dry conditions, defying climate threats. Researchers developed a database with S. divinum’s proteins and a method to determine their functions, shedding light on its adaptive mechanisms. As environmental stressors deplete peatland carbon reserves, understanding genetic resilience becomes crucial. Using high-performance computing and AI, the team predicted structures for S. divinum’s 25,134 proteins, revealing insights into their functions. The findings advance climate resilience understanding and support future research on Sphagnum moss compounds.
A genetic breakthrough unveils the high-iron mutations in peas, presenting opportunities for fortified vegetables and cereals. This discovery, based on a newly mapped pea-genome, could guide gene-editing strategies to enhance iron content in various crops, addressing global anaemia concerns, especially among women. The findings illuminate iron homeostasis in plants, offering prospects for biofortification.
Scientists have long known that chloroplasts help plants turn the sun’s energy into food, but a new study, led by plant biologists, shows that they are also essential for plant immunity to viral and bacterial pathogens.
Plants employ plasmodesmata for cell communication, but protein targeting to these structures is poorly understood. Studying PDLP5 and related proteins, researchers discovered unconventional targeting signals in their extracellular regions, crucial for regulating viral movement. New study aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms behind protein targeting to plasmodesmata, offering insights for plant biotechnology.
A new Journal of Applied Ecology study based on the world’s largest wildlife survey reveals that 66 percent of India’s natural systems are threatened by invasive plant species.
Invasive plant species management in India has historically been constrained by a lack of information regarding the spread of invasions. So to combat this, scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India were forced to come up with a unique solution.
They decided to integrate an invasive plant assessment with India’s national assessment of tiger populations, taking place every four years and monitoring 358,000 km2 of natural areas. A mobile app was used to sample 158,000 plots of land, ultimately revealing that 66 percent of wilderness areas had been invaded by invasive plant species, including Lantana camara, Prosopis juliflora, and Chromolaena odorata.
Professor Qamar Qureshi from the Wildlife Institute of India explains “The tiger project was intended to monitor the changing status of the animals and their habitat. Plant invasions end up altering these habitats and revealing intricate ecological changes. In the end, it just made sense to monitor both plants and tigers simultaneously”.
India’s legacy of human modifications, historical propagation of invasive plants, shifting soil moisture regime, and altered cycles of natural disturbances are amongst the leading drivers that likely facilitate invasions.
India has one of the world’s highest population densities. Therefore, demand for food, energy and infrastructure are poised to intensify, potentially escalating the already rampant invasions even more.
Using the date collected in the national-scale invasive plant assessment, the researchers developed a model to identify priority restoration sites, namely those where invasions are in their initial stages, with preference for those within already protected areas. Protecting these sites requires less investment and intervention, while still delivering promising biodiversity returns.
Professor Y V Jhala, also from the Wildlife Institute of India, says “Personal judgements are often used to select and manage invasive species and areas. Without understanding the ecological or landscape-scale context of invasions, such investments rarely achieve the objective of ecological restoration. Using our strategic prioritisation plan can ensure that limited resources are invested in a manner that maximizes long-term biodiversity gains”.
The study’s inclusion in the recent tiger report published by the government of India underscores the highest political recognition of the threats brought by biological invasions. Whilst the study provides a critical steppingstone towards evidence-based restoration, several challenges persist.
“Managing invasive species demands more than mere removal — it necessitates context-sensitive restoration, stakeholder participation, and adaptive holistic policies that can enable positive changes”, says Dr. Ninad Avinash Mungi from Aarhus University who partnered with the Wildlife Institute of India for the study.
India has been long awaiting a dedicated policy framework on managing invasions and restoring ecosystems, but for now, the new study provides timely guidance.
As the United Nations’ decade for Ecosystem Restoration unfolds, India’s proactive stance in monitoring invasive species by integrating it with flagship programs sets an example of responsible and forward-looking conservation efforts. Amidst densely populated and invaded regions, this research paves a path towards effective restoration, rekindling ecological optimism.
Read the paper: Journal of Applied Ecology
Article source: British Ecological Society
Author: BES Press Office
Image: Several water bodies that are important habitat and resource for many endangered species like the Asian elephant are invaded by the water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes), a plant native to tropical America. Credit: Jayanta Guha.
Agricultural management has typically focused on increasing yields, but there is an increasing need for sustainable food production that limits negative impacts on the environment. A new study provides insights into the potential benefits of diversifying agricultural practices, revealing how different mixtures of plant species can improve production, quality, and conservation.
Flowering, a critical developmental phase in a plant’s life, signifies its transition to reproductive maturity. The timing of flowering crucially impacts the plant’s reproductive period and adaptability to the environment. Achieving the correct flowering time is essential for successful fruit reproduction, regulated by both environmental cues and internal signals. Vernalization and photoperiod pathways orchestrate numerous floral signals, with methylation (histone, DNA, and RNA) emerging as a key epigenetic player in regulating plant growth and development, especially in flowering. Despite progress, understanding regulatory factors in vernalization and photoperiod pathways, as well as responses to internal and external signals, remains an ongoing challenge.
