15-03-13 A QUT scientist has helped unravel the way in which plants regulate their levels of vitamin C, the vitamin essential for preventing iron deficiency anemia and conditions such as scurvy. Professor Roger Hellens, working with Dr William Laing from New...

14-11-25 Each year in the Northern Hemisphere, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide drop in the summer as plants inhale, then climb again as they exhale after the growing season. During the last 50 years, the size of this seasonal swing has increased by as m...

14-09-29 Ancient, acidic and nutrient-depleted dunes in Western Australia are not an obvious place to answer a question that has vexed tropical biologists for decades. But the Jurien Bay dunes proved to be the perfect site to unravel why plant diversity vari...

14-08-25 Everyone's heard of the birds and the bees. But that old expression leaves out the flowers that are being fertilized. The fertilization process for flowering plants is particularly complex and requires extensive communication between the male and fe...

14-08-04 Sieve elements are a key component of phloem（筛部，韧皮部） , the conductive tissue through which plants transport carbohydrates and a wide range of signalling molecules. Elongated cylindrical cells are capped at one end by a sieve plate and arrang...

14-07-31 Exotic pests, shrinking ranges and a changing climate threaten some of the world's most rare and ecologically important plants, and so conservationists establish seed collections to save the seeds in banks or botanical gardens（植物园） in hopes of...

14-07-09 Throughout evolution, living things have repeatedly developed physically distinct sexes, but how does this actually happen? A discovery in the multicellular green alga, Volvox carteri, has revealed the genetic origin of male and female sexes, showin...

14-07-02 Previous studies have suggested that plant growth can be influenced by sound and that plants respond to wind and touch. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri, in a collaboration that brings together audio and chemical analysis, have determi...

14-06-17 For caterpillars（毛毛虫） , having a well-rounded（面面俱到的） diet can be fraught with peril（危险） . UC Irvine and Wesleyan University biologists have learned that caterpillars that feed on one or two plant species are better able to hide from...

14-05-09 Flowers aren't just pretty to look at, they are how plants reproduce. In agricultural plants, the timing and regulation of flower formation has economic significance, affecting a crop's yield. A new paper by researchers at the University of Pennsylv...