http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/plant-science-blog.html Plant science blog from biology-blog.com, the place for information. Tue, 13 May 2008 03:37:57 GMT en-us http://www.biology-blog.com/images/blogs/plant-science-blog.jpg http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/plant-science-blog.html 99 107 http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/beyond-nutrition-plants-deliver.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/beyond-nutrition-plants-deliver.html Tue, 13 May 2008 03:37:57 GMT The need for a renewable and affordable source of carbon that can sustain future economic development without negatively impacting the environment is now widely recognised. It is also apparent that the increasingly high demand for fossil carbon will eventually deplete existing stocks. The Plant Journal is pleased to present a series of invited peer-reviewed articles that describe processes that plants can or could use to convert their fixed carbon into fuels and other useful products. The articles were commissioned to provide an authoritative scientific backdrop to inform discussion in debates on finding alternative and reliable sources of carbon........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/fritillaria-affinis.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/fritillaria-affinis.html Tue, 13 May 2008 03:37:57 GMT Thanks once again to Jackie Chambers of UBC Botanical Garden for submitting a photograph and ......... ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/transgenic-sunup-papaya-genome.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/transgenic-sunup-papaya-genome.html Fri, 09 May 2008 00:57:35 GMT This week's issue of Nature features the draft genome of the transgenic 'SunUp' Papaya, the first commercial virus-resistant transgenic fruit tree to be sequenced. From Nature ......... ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/gardeners-get-advice-from-neighbors-friends.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/gardeners-get-advice-from-neighbors-friends.html Thu, 08 May 2008 01:46:35 GMT Where do gardeners turn when they need information about annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees" Staff at University of Minnesota Extension have published results of a survey that concludes that the majority of backyard gardeners get their planting and plant information informallymost often from friends, neighbors and local garden centers........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/silicons-effect-on-sunflowers.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/silicons-effect-on-sunflowers.html Thu, 08 May 2008 01:46:35 GMT Vibrant, showy sunflowers are revered worldwide for their beauty and versatility. While a number of varieties of sunflower are grown specifically for their nutritional benefits, ornamental sunflowers have become standards for commercial growers and everyday gardeners. As sunflowers' popularity grows, researchers are looking for new supplements and growing methods to enhance production and quality of this celebrated annual........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/plants-and-their-pollinators.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/5-2008/plants-and-their-pollinators.html Thu, 08 May 2008 01:46:35 GMT The quality of pollen a plant produces is closely tied to its sexual habits, ecologists have discovered. As well as helping explain the evolution of such intimate relationships between plants and pollinators, the study one of the first of its kind and published online in the British Ecological Society's journal Functional Ecology also helps explain the recent dramatic decline in certain bumblebee species found in the shrinking areas of species-rich chalk grasslands and hay meadows across Northern Europe........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/patent-office-rejects-companys-claim-for-bean.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/patent-office-rejects-companys-claim-for-bean.html Thu, 08 May 2008 01:46:35 GMT The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today rejected all of the patent claims for a common yellow bean that has been a familiar staple in Latin American diets for more than a century. The bean was erroneously granted patent protection in 1999, as US Patent Number 5,894,079, in a move that raised profound concerns about biopiracy and the potential abuse of intellectual property (IP) claims on plant materials that originate in the developing world and remain as important dietary staples, especially among the poor........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/rna-role-in-spreading-disease.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/rna-role-in-spreading-disease.html Thu, 08 May 2008 01:46:35 GMT Recent research that links specific pieces of RNA to an infectious organism's duplication and spread could lead the way to the prevention of viroids, pathogens that can kill or damage food crops and other plants. The findings and the research approach used by Ohio State University researchers also could have applications in the study of how certain viruses spread in humans because the pathogens have some similar characteristics........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/sudden-oak-death-pathogen-is-evolving.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/sudden-oak-death-pathogen-is-evolving.html Thu, 08 May 2008 01:46:35 GMT The pathogen responsible for Sudden Oak Death first got its grip in California's forests outside a nursery in Santa Cruz and at Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County before spreading out to eventually kill millions of oaks and tanoaks along the Pacific Coast, as per a new study led by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley. It provides, for the first time, evidence of how the epidemic unfolded in this state........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/flowers-fragrance-diminished-by-air-pollution.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/flowers-fragrance-diminished-by-air-pollution.html Thu, 08 May 2008 01:46:35 GMT Air pollution from power plants and automobiles is destroying the fragrance of flowers and thereby inhibiting the ability of pollinating insects to follow scent trails to their source, a new University of Virginia study indicates. This could partially explain why wild populations of some pollinators, especially bees which need nectar for food are declining in several areas of the world, including California and the Netherlands........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/novel-gene-toggles-in-worlds-top-food-crop.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/novel-gene-toggles-in-worlds-top-food-crop.html Thu, 08 May 2008 01:46:35 GMT University of Delaware researchers, in collaboration with U.S. and international colleagues, have found a new type of molecule--a kind of "micro-switch"--that can turn off genes in rice, which is the primary source of food for more than half the world's population. The discovery is published in the March 25 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/variegated-leaf-porn.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/variegated-leaf-porn.html Thu, 08 May 2008 01:46:35 GMT Whenever I put the word “porn” on my blog I get lots of hits. I need all the help I can get, so as a sort of follow-up to my post on the science behind variegated leaves, here’s some variegated leaf porn from Roger Williams Park Botanical Conservancy in ......... ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/trachystemon-orientalis.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/trachystemon-orientalis.html Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:59:50 GMT Thank you to UBC Botanical Garden horticulturist Jackie Chambers for today''s photographs and write-up, much ......... ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/genes-key-to-hormone-production-in-plants.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/genes-key-to-hormone-production-in-plants.html Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:32:36 GMT Scientists at North Carolina State University have pinpointed a small group of genes responsible for telling plants when, where and how to produce a hormone that is key to their development. Their findings shed light on the ways in which hormone production in plants affects both a plants growth and its ability to adapt to changing environments........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/will-avocados-be-next.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/4-2008/will-avocados-be-next.html Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:32:36 GMT Researchers with the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS), Iowa State University, and the Florida Division of Forestry have provided the first description of a fungus responsible for the wilt of redbay trees along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. In the recent issue of Plant Disease, SRS plant pathologist Stephen Fraedrich and fellow scientists provide results from their assessment of the fungus, the beetle that carries it, and their combined effect on redbay and other members of the laurel family, including sassafras, spicebush, and avocado........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2008/pathway-plants-use-to-fight-back-against-pathogens.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2008/pathway-plants-use-to-fight-back-against-pathogens.html Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:32:36 GMT Plants are not only smart, but they also wage a good fight, as per a University of Missouri biochemist. Prior studies have shown that plants can sense attacks by pathogens and activate their defenses. However, it has not been known what happens between the pathogen attacks and the defense activation, until now. A new MU study revealed a very complex process that explains how plants counter attack pathogens. This discovery could potentially lead to crops with enhanced disease resistance........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2008/cnidoscolus-stimulosus.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2008/cnidoscolus-stimulosus.html Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:32:36 GMT The last photograph and write-up in the underutilized plants series will appear on Monday. Connor and I are still sorting out some details about the entry, a task made more difficult by the fact that I''m 2000km away from Vancouver and not online often. So, that''s the explanation for today''s exceptionally late entry! In the meantime, Connor has assembled this ......... ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2008/can-you-rescue-a-rainforest.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2008/can-you-rescue-a-rainforest.html Fri, 28 Mar 2008 03:21:09 GMT Half a century after most of Costa Rica's rainforests were cut down, scientists from the Boyce Thompson Institute took on a project that a number of thought was impossible - restoring a tropical rainforest ecosystem. When the scientists planted worn-out cattle fields in Costa Rica with a sampling of local trees, native species began to move in and flourish, raising the hope that destroyed rainforests can one day be replaced........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2008/corns-roots-dig-deeper-into-south-america.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2008/corns-roots-dig-deeper-into-south-america.html Fri, 28 Mar 2008 03:21:09 GMT Corn has long been known as the primary food crop in prehistoric North and Central America. Now it appears it may have been an important part of the South American diet for much longer than previously thought, as per new research by University of Calgary archaeologists who are cobbling together the ancient history of plant domestication in the New World........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2008/arabidopsis-thaliana.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/3-2008/arabidopsis-thaliana.html Fri, 28 Mar 2008 03:21:09 GMT Today''s entry, organized by Connor Fitzpatrick, is the fourth in a BPotD series for UBC Research Week. The photographs and write up come courtesy of Dr. Fred Sack, Professor and Head, Department of ......... ]]>