Grassland plants react unexpectedly to high levels of carbon dioxide

april 20,2018

University of Minnesota

Summary:

Plants are responding in unexpected ways to increased carbon dioxide in the air, according to a 20-year study.

Plants are responding in unexpected ways to increased carbon dioxide in the air, according to a twenty-year study conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota and published in the journalScience. For the first 12 years, researchers found what they expected regarding how different types of grasses reacted to carbon dioxide. However, researchers' findings took an unanticipated turn during the last eight years of the study.

Rip Van Winkle' plants hide underground for up to 20 years

Date:

April 19, 2018

Source:

University of Sussex

Summary:

Scores of plant species are capable of living dormant under the soil for up to 20 years, enabling them to survive through difficult times, a new study has found.

A lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) photographed in Estonia.

Credit: Richard Shefferson

Scores of plant species are capable of living dormant under the soil for up to 20 years, enabling them to survive through difficult times, a new study has found.

Plants play greater role than megaherbivore extinctions in changes to ecosystem structure

April 16, 2018 by Alan Williams,

Plants may have exerted greater influence on our terrestrial ecosystems than the megaherbivores that used to roam our landscapes, according to new research.

Previously, scientists believed that the Late Quaternary extinction event, which took place between ~11,000 and 15,000 years ago across much of northern Europe, played a significant role in the subsequent expansion of woody plants and declining nitrogen availability over the last 10,000 years.

How spiders can harm and help flowering plants

Date:

April 10, 2018

Source:

University of Zurich

Summary:

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Now researchers show that this principle also holds for crab spiders and flowering plants. While it's true that the spiders do eat or drive away useful pollinators such as bees, they're also attracted by floral scent signals to come and help if the plant is attacked by insects intent on eating it.

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Crab spiders sitting on the flowers keep away bees and also plant-eating insects from visiting the plants.

Credit: Anina C. Knauer