Plants

Desert Plants’ Adaptations Help Them Thrive

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Every April for the past decade, systems biologist Rodrigo Gutiérrez has driven 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to reach one of the driest places on Earth: Chile’s Atacama Desert, parts of which receive less than three millimeters of rain annually. His team collected plants and soil from nearly two dozen sites each year, froze the samples … Read more

Vitamins: Thousand edible plants identified as underused source of nutrients

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Comparing 6400 understudied wild plants with the better-known plants they are related to suggests that 1000 of them are rich in the B group of vitamins Health 24 February 2022 By Clare Wilson Durian fruit (Durio kutejensis) DE AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY/Getty Images Wild plants are an overlooked source of vitamins and minerals that could help … Read more

‘Striking’ Expansion of Two Antarctic Flowering Plants Is a Climate Warning

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Flowering plants in the Antarctic region are rapidly expanding, scientists say, indicating the continuing effects of climate change on the continent. The findings suggest we may have reached a tipping point in this fragile, remote ecosystem.   A new study of this plant expansion looked at the two flowering plants native to Antarctica, Deschampsia antarctica … Read more

Crop yields could be boosted up to 37 per cent by covering plants in red plastic

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A simple, cheap technology could help to boost food production and possibly allow crops to be grown in different places in order to cut down on food miles Environment 18 February 2022 By Alice Klein Trial of the LLEAF material in a greenhouse at Western Sydney University Alexander Soeriyadi/LLEAF Pty Ltd The yields of some … Read more

Flower growth in Antarctica is accelerating due to warming climate

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There are only two flowering plants native to Antarctica and both have seen an explosion in their numbers in the decade from 2009 to 2019 Environment 14 February 2022 By Alex Wilkins Deschampsia antarctica is one of two flowering plants native to Antarctica Nature/Getty Images Plants in Antarctica are growing more quickly due to climate … Read more

Protect your plants from cold snaps with home-made cloches

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By Clare Wilson GAP Photos/Anna Omiotek-Tott IN MY garden, bulbs such as snowdrops are coming up. Every year, I wonder if spring is arriving earlier due to climate change. One study from 2006 found that many signs of spring, such as plant species unfurling their leaves, had been hastened by 7.5 days across Europe in … Read more

As seed-hauling animals decline, some plants can’t keep up with climate change | Science

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Country: Country *AfghanistanAland IslandsAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntarcticaAntigua and BarbudaArgentinaArmeniaArubaAustraliaAustriaAzerbaijanBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBhutanBolivia, Plurinational State ofBonaire, Sint Eustatius and SabaBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswanaBouvet IslandBrazilBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryBrunei DarussalamBulgariaBurkina FasoBurundiCambodiaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChadChileChinaChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombiaComorosCongoCongo, The Democratic Republic of theCook IslandsCosta RicaCote D’IvoireCroatiaCubaCuraçaoCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineaEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Faroe IslandsFijiFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabonGambiaGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGibraltarGreeceGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuatemalaGuernseyGuineaGuinea-BissauGuyanaHaitiHeard Island and Mcdonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)HondurasHong … Read more

Spring: UK flowers are blooming a month early due to climate change

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The shift to early flowering in the UK is greater for smaller plants than trees and shrubs, and is related to warming temperatures in winter and spring over the past 70 years Environment 2 February 2022 By Clare Wilson People walk past daffodils in Green Park in London TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images Seen any … Read more

Flowers in The UK Are Blooming a Whole Month Earlier Than They Did in The 1980s

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For centuries, British flowers have been blooming like clockwork. A few months into spring, sometime around May or June, the nation bursts into color. Since the early 1980s, however, hundreds of plants have grown out of sync with the seasons, which means they’re also unraveling from the complicated tapestry of interactions that keep ecosystems sustainably … Read more

Plant genomics: Huge database includes over 9000 species of flowering plants

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Public library of DNA sequences will allow botanists to track the complex evolutionary history of flowering plants in unprecedented detail Life 1 February 2022 By Chen Ly Zinnia flowers in a meadow Shutterstock / Pheobus More than 9000 species of plants have had sections of their genomes sequenced as part of the Plant and Fungal … Read more