We’re adding a couple of things for Google+ users from our page. They both tackle a problem that particularly affects new users, that Google+ can look a bit empty. The first is a Botanic Gardens circle. This is a collection of all the botanic gardens we’ve found using Google+. Some accounts are more active than [...]
Several ecologically important plant families in Mediterranean biomes have seeds with morphophysiological dormancy. Hidayati et al. study four species of the intractably dormant Australian genus Hibbertia (Dilleniaceae) and find that although they are congeneric, sympatric and produce seeds of identical morphology, they show a remarkable level of variation in dormancy-break and germination requirements. The results have [...]
Potassium, sulphur and zinc contents of mistletoe leaves are generally higher than in their hosts because elements that are cycled between xylem and phloem in the process of phloem loading of sugars are trapped in the mistletoe. Lo Gullo et al. hypothesize that mutant albino shoots should behave similarly because they lack photosynthesis and thus cannot [...]
Glandular trichomes (GT) on Artemisia annua produce and store the anti-malarial compound artemisinin (AN) and other secondary metabolites (SM) that have several pharmaceutical and industrial uses. This paper investigates the spatial and temporal distribution of GT on leaves and tests the hypotheses that environmental stress influences the size and density of GT. Effect of [...]
See on Scoop.it – AnnBotrelease of the Plantwise Knowledge Bank, the open-access information resource from CABI covering crop pests and diseases.Plantwise is a global programme to improve food security, alleviate poverty and improve livelihoods. Plantwise helps developing countries establish a network of plant clinics run by CABI trained ‘plant doctors’, where farmers can bring crops [...]
Photosynthetic light-response curves describe how leaf photosynthesis changes with light intensity, but they are time-consuming to measure, differ between species and change depending on the growth environment of the leaf. Lachapelle and Shipley study plants of 25 herbaceous species grown in four different light and fertility environments in an interspecific context and show that light-response curves [...]
These are links from our Scoop It page between July 2nd and July 25th: Frontiers | A Vision for 21st Century Agricultural Research | From Rich Jorgensen from Richard A. Jorgensen, Guanajuato, MéxicoLet’s admit an unfortunate truth: agricultural research in most of the world is based on old models that no longer serve us well [...]