botanyone

[botanyone]

Wikidata for Botanists: Connecting People, Plants, and Data

Imagine if every botanical specimen, every plant researcher, and all the botanical knowledge could be instantly connected across the world. According to a recently published article in Annals of Botany, that idea is becoming reality through Wikidata, a multilingual database that’s transforming how we organize and access plant science information.   Wikidata is a database of facts, where each…

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Wet Gets Wetter Dry Gets Drier in the Amazon Rainforest

Wet Gets Wetter, Dry Gets Drier in the Amazon Rainforest https://ift.tt/Q6NKGof Cintra and colleagues have found that changes in climate aren’t making the Amazon wetter or drier, but both, according to whether it’s the wet or dry season. Their study is based on 30 years of natural climate records locked in tree rings of Cedrela odorata and Macrolobium acaciifolium. The findings have relevance beyond weather patterns across South America. In a press release the authors state: “The Amazon rainforest plays a critical role in global climate regulation… Observed changes in the rainfall cycle could have far-reaching effects on global climate stability.” The research was based on studying oxygen isotope ratios in cores extracted from trees. The rings grow with oxygen from that year’s rainwater locked in the ring. From the tree’s point of view, the isotopes in the water don’t matter, but these isotopes reveal how the rain travelled there. Oxygen-16 and Oxygen-18 get picked up as water evaporates from the ocean to make clouds. Rain falls, gets processed through trees and rises again, to form new clouds to rain further inland. But each time water passes through the process, it’s the lighter Oxygen-16 that’s favoured. So if there are more rainfall events on the way inland, meaning wetter weather, the ratio of Oxygen-16 to Oxygen-18 increases. If there are fewer rainfall events, then the rain is richer in Oxygen-18. Changes in this ratio told Cintra and colleagues how climate had changed since 1980. Extreme river flood levels reach several meters depth, as indicated by the darker shade on the bark of this tree from seasonally flooded forests. Photo: Bruno B L Cintra, University of Birmingham But Cintra and colleagues were able to see beyond yearly averages by comparing two trees. Cedrela odorata grows in the wet season, while Macrolobium acaciifolium, in the floodplains, grows in the dry season. So their isotopes in their tree rings will relate to rainfall in different seasons. The authors write that, in the wet season, the ratio of Oxygen-18 fell by 0.90‰, almost one part in a thousand, indicating an increase in rainfall of 15%-22%. But in the dry season Oxygen-18 ratio increased by 1.14‰, meaning the dry season was 8%-13% drier. The botanists believe that a warming Atlantic is changing how and when rainfall arrives in the Amazon basin. This increasing variability will lead to increased flooding and droughts for for the Amazon and beyond, as far south as Buenos Aires. Preparations for the future appear urgent. Cintra, B.B.L., Gloor, E., Baker, J.C.A., Boom, A., Schöngart, J., Clerici, S., Pattnayak, K. and Brienen, R.J.W. (2025) “Tree ring isotopes reveal an intensification of the hydrological cycle in the Amazon,” Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1), pp. 1–12. https://doi.org/pr26 Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. Image: Serene Amazon rainforest with lush greenery reflected in river Jean Gc / Pexels. The post Wet Gets Wetter, Dry Gets Drier in the Amazon Rainforest appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ June 17, 2025 at 08:28PM

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The genetic prison that traps a ghost plant

The genetic prison that traps a ghost plant https://ift.tt/26kFyPO Leaves are critical to the survival of most plants. While they cost energy to build and are at risk of attack, these organs are vital to life, as through photosynthesis they capture the energy a plant needs to grow. But Monotropastrum humile, a ghost plant, does things differently. Monotropastrum humile gets its energy from fungi instead. Their roots tap into the local fungal network and pull everything they need from their hosts. That’s why they don’t need chlorophyll so, instead of a lush green, these plants are pallid white, like ghosts. Even though they lack chlorophyll and don’t photosynthesise, these ghost plants still have leaves.  The proportion of the aboveground plant that is leaf is comparable to photosynthetic species, even though the leaves have no obvious use. So why do they do it? Harada and colleagues took a close look at the plants, to see if the leaves were a similar size in all plants. Obviously some plants are bigger than others, but the key was to measure seven traits, to see if the leaves were the same size in proportion to the plant. This unlocked the puzzle. The size of the leaves was in proportion to the size of the flower. The size of the flower is important to the plant, which is thought to attract long-tongued bumble bees. So it must have a flower of a certain size to attract the insects & get pollinated. But this leads to a genetic problem. The petals and sepals are a specialised forms of leaf. Some of the genes that shape the petals and sepals also work on the ghost plant’s leaves. This connects the size of all three, so that shrinking the leaves also shrinks the flowers. Without the leaves there is no flower. This research gets to a feature of genes. Often they don’t have a single function, but have an effect in collaboration with other genes. It explains why sometimes evolution gets ‘stuck’. It may not be able to eliminate one trait without mucking up another crucial function. Harada and colleagues plan to test their ideas by testing the pattern with other ghost plants. They mention examining Pyrola aphylla and Cymbidium species. They believe that the leaves will have to be a minimum size, connected to attracting pollinators to their flowers. Harada, S., Shiba, M., Kurosu, S., Izawa, H., Kurotaki, K., Yasuda, T. and Fukuda, T. (2025) “Why does non-photosynthetic Monotropastrum humile (Ericaceae) have scale leaves?,” Plant-Environment Interactions, 6(3), p. e70060. https://doi.org/10.1002/pei3.70060. Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. Image: Monotropastrum humile (Ginryo-so), by coniferconifer / Wikimedia Commons CC-BY. The post The genetic prison that traps a ghost plant appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ June 13, 2025 at 07:04PM

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How Golf Courses Are Helping to Save the Primrose

As farming across Europe becomes more intense, wild plants are being pushed close to extinction, and conservation biologists are seeking refuge for threatened species in the most unexpected places. New research suggests that carefully managed golf courses could help saving wildflowers that are struggling to survive in Europe’s farmed landscapes.   Primula vulgaris. Photo: Van Rossum. The study,…

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The hidden complexity of pollinator networks in gardens

The hidden complexity of pollinator networks in gardens https://ift.tt/GD7o4wf A common question is “What is the best plant for pollinators?” Research from Brazil suggests this might be exactly the wrong question to ask. Instead of a one-shot solution, you should see serving pollinators as a relay. Different plants are needed for different times, for the same insects. The findings are the result of observations over the course of a year in the city of Maringá, Brazil. Perugini and colleagues tracked 127 flowering plants and 144 pollinator species through the seasons leading to 7,829 recorded interactions to see how plants and pollinators connected. They weren’t just interested in species, but also the traits of flowers. So they measured flower depth, tracked flowering timing, and mapped which pollinators visited which plants. With this data they then drew interaction networks to look for patterns. The major finding was that plant-pollinator networks were highly modular, like separate communities within the garden. Plants with similar flower shapes attracted similar pollinators. Because certain pollinators stayed with certain plants, there were ten communities using the same garden. The key to success was timing. Plants in the same pollinator group flowered at different times of the year. This means the pollinators in the same module could have a supply of food around the year. The authors write that this continuity may be what shapes pollinator assemblages. One of the surprises (to me) is how modular the network was. Perugini et al describe over 80% of the plants as “peripheral”, with interactions within just one module. Only Odontonema tubaeforme was identified as a network hub. This plant is not a native to Maringá. Something Maringá has that other places might not is pollinators active around the year. The pollinators therefore need food throughout the year. This is something that could be done if gardeners plant with a view to timing of flowers, and variety of shapes within the selection of flowers. Perugini and colleagues conclude: “Subtropical and tropical gardens already support significant populations of pollinators, but with more thoughtful consideration of what is planted, they could provide even greater resources for these ecologically important animals.” de Sousa Perugini, L.G., Jorge, L.R., Ollerton, J., Milaneze-Gutierre, M.A. and Rech, A.R. (2025) “High modularity of plant-pollinator interactions in an urban garden is driven by phenological continuity and flower morphology,” Urban Ecosystems, 28(3). https://doi.org/pqsb Read free via https://rdcu.be/epLTL  Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. Image: Odontonema tubaeforme. Turnstange / Wikimedia Commons The post The hidden complexity of pollinator networks in gardens appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ June 06, 2025 at 07:06PM

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Is it time to kill the Mass Extinction concept?

Is it time to kill the “Mass Extinction” concept? https://ift.tt/NuqSKsd Colin Barras reports on a recent paper by Peng et al that finds a healthy ecosystem barely 75,000 years after the end-Permian extinction, 250 million years ago, thought to be the deadliest mass extinction ever. Barras finds the deadliness of mass extinctions might depend on who you talk to. For example, an extinction we’re all familiar with, the end of the Cretaceous, that was a mass extinction, yes? Barras asked Spencer Lucas “I think that there’s a lot of hyperbole involved in this. It’s a big deal that the non-avian dinosaurs go extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. That said, I don’t think it’s really a mass extinction.” It’s a bold statement and, naturally, not everyone agrees. Barras also talks to tetrapod experts Mike Benton, who is convinced of mass extinctions, and Paul Wignall who provides the quote: “I think it would be fair to say that Lucas’s viewpoint is not mainstream.” A lot of the discussion is about how well the fossil record can capture extinctions across a wide sample of genera. Are fossils missing because the animals that make them are extinct? Are they missing, because not everywhere is conducive to providing fossils? Barras notes Sandra Schachat’s comments that the insect record isn’t as complete as we’d like. Maybe insects suffered from an extinction, or maybe they took evolutionary advantage of changing times around the same period. Then he turns to the plant record, and how biologists think about plants. And how sometimes they don’t. Barras talks to Cascales-Miñana and Cleal who, back in 2013, suggested there were just two mass extinctions for plants, at the end of the Carboniferous period, when it became the Permian, and during the Permian. Barras reports Cleal has an explanation for plant resilience. “Imagine shooting all the elephants in the world: 10 years later, there are still no elephants,” he says. “Now imagine cutting down all the oak trees in the world: 10 years later, there are the beginnings of new oak forests because the acorns germinated.” There’s been more research since then. Nowak et al have argued that the end of the Permian wasn’t a mass extinction event for plants either. As a result Barras asks: “Should we label an event a “mass extinction” if it only affects a limited set of organisms and has little impact on other major groups?” It’s a pity (but understandable) that this is behind the New Scientist and Apple News + paywalls. It’s an engaging article that captures the spirit of scientific debate without portraying one side as stubborn stick-in-the-muds. If you can get access to this it’s well worth your time. It also raises a worry. If plants haven’t had a mass extinctions in the past, then current biodiversity loss in unprecedented. If that’s the case we need reconsider about how we think about both past resilience and present vulnerability. A slightly abridged version is cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. The post Is it time to kill the “Mass Extinction” concept? appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ June 03, 2025 at 03:00PM

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How Heliamphora turns a first date into a last meal

How Heliamphora turns a first date into a last meal https://ift.tt/TpEIK7C Carnivorous plants have a few problems. One is that they live in nutrient-poor soils, so they have to catch prey to supplement their diet. The other is they’re plants, and can’t wander to hunt prey, they have to persuade the prey to come to them. Liu & Smith have investigated how they do that. Heliamphora plants are carnivorous plants from South America, that have colourful “nectar spoons” to attract insects, and pitcher traps to digest them. Liu & Smith looked at gene expression in Heliamphora tatei to see what genes in the nectar spoon were helping attract the insects. They used RNA sequencing on different plant tissues to see which genes were turned on the nectar spoon that aren’t on in the rest of the plant. They found that sugar transport genes (called SWEET14a) are highly active in nectar spoons, making the sugars needed for insect bait. The twist is that the nectar spoons don’t just produce nectar. The botanists found these organs also produce volatile organic compounds, scents, to attract visitors. Liu & Smith note that some pitchers produce complex compounds to create toxic nectar, but that’s not known here. Instead it seems the nectar is produced to encourage ants to bimble over and around the rim of the trap. The problem for the ants being that Heliamphora tatei has a slippy pitcher, with wax scales, downward pointing hairs and a wet surface, making the sides of the trap extremely slippery. Heliamphora are an interesting clade (related group) of plants. “This clade is endemic to the Guiana Highlands of Venezuela and comprises 24 described species and several yet to be described taxa (>70% of the entire family Sarraceniaceae),” write the authors. Yet not all the Heliamphora are true carnivores. Some like Heliamphora tatei have digestive fluids. Others just have water traps and rely on bacteria to break down prey. Understanding what genetic tricks the plants share, and what is unique could help explain the development of carnivory. The authors conclude: “Our work opens the door for investigating the degree of molecular convergence in prey attraction in other carnivorous plant lineages, many of which use similar combinations of sugary reward and scent volatiles to lure prey.” Liu, S. and Smith, S.D. (2025) “Recruitment of sugar transport and scent volatile genes for prey attraction in the nectar spoon of Heliamphora tatei,” Evolution & Development, 27(2), p. e70009. https://doi.org/10.1111/ede.70009 Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. Cover: Heliamphora, unknown species. Photo chosen as it emphasises the nectar spoon. Image: Canva. The post How Heliamphora turns a first date into a last meal appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ June 03, 2025 at 09:00AM

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The search for gold risks losing treasure

The search for gold risks losing treasure https://ift.tt/jMkPTbZ Research by Abra Atwood and colleagues finds why the Amazon forest isn’t healing when gold miners move on. The team used drones, soil sensors & underground imaging to assess the damage of suction mining. They found the land isn’t cursed by poison in the soil. It’s lack of water. Gold mining is ripping the Amazon apart. “In suction mining, topsoil is washed away into ponds and surrounding forests and rivers (leading to further forest and river degradation), leaving gold-bearing sand,” write the authors. “Suction mining requires large volumes of water, leading to a landscape of deep (2–7 m) mining ponds and sand in place of rainforest and clay-rich soils.” This hydraulic strip mining has destroyed 95,750 hectares of Amazon rainforest since 1980, the same area as 135,000 football pitches. The team used electrical resistivity imaging to track water movement. They found that the sand piles act like sieves. Rainwater drains through them up to 100 times faster than in undisturbed soil. These areas also dry out nearly five times faster after rain, creating parched patches. While the sand piles don’t hold on to the rain of the tropics, they certainly hold on to the heat. On exposed sand piles, surface temperatures reached as high as 60°C (145°F). “It’s like trying to grow a tree in an oven,” said one of the authors in a press release. Drone-mounted thermal cameras showed how barren ground baked under the sun while nearby forested areas and pond edges stayed significantly cooler. “When roots can’t find water and surface temperatures are scorching, even replanted seedlings just die,” said Atwood. In the paper, they tackle both problems: “We specifically suggest lowering the elevation of tailing piles and backfilling ponds to improve revegetation success.” Filling ponds will help seedlings get closer to water, and levelling the piles will help diminish the heat reservoirs. The authors say that while natural erosion might eventually allow forest to reclaim the mines, nature will be slow. Other researchers have estimated these scars will take centuries to recover. Atwood et al conclude that humans need to take responsibility to speed up the process of recovery. Atwood, A., Ramesh, S., Amaya, J.A., Cadillo-Quiroz, H., Coayla, D., Chen, C.-M. and West, A.J. (2025) “Landscape controls on water availability limit revegetation after artisanal gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon,” Communications Earth & Environment, 6(1), pp. 1–10. https://doi.org/pp9k. Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. Cover: Example of suction mining process in Balata (photo credit: A.J. West, Sept. 2024), sourced from Atwood et al 2025. The post The search for gold risks losing treasure appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ June 02, 2025 at 03:00PM

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The Swindle That Left Tea With a Bitter Taste

The Swindle That Left Tea With a Bitter Taste https://ift.tt/yOUWoA9 The BBC reports on an unusual fraud. The story revolves around “The Wee Tea Plantation”, supposedly a tea plantation in Perthshire that sold single-estate tea. This might seem unlikely, but there is a fledgling Scottish tea industry. But Thomas Robinson seemed to be extraordinarily successful. At least, the plantation certainly seemed successful, with clients including Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel and the Dorchester in London. There was no shortage of tea to supply – but that’s because Robinson was buying tea from overseas, and selling it at up to 100 times the cost as Scottish tea. The tea was in demand from high-status-buyers, but how can you convince them you’re the real deal? When a buyer from Fortnum & Mason’s came to inspect the plantation, he bought tea plants to create an illusion of success. The deception by the “polymer scientist” & “former bomb disposal expert” fell apart when he claimed to have won awards that no one else had heard of. This case highlights the problem of provenancing tea. How do you know your tea is Scottish, or Chinese or anything else? There is a premium to be paid for tea from the right regions, and so there’s also an incentive by unscrupulous people to bulk out, or mislabel tea too. It’s difficult to identify tea just by looking at it. This is a problem for tea where supply chains are complex, particularly when you sell blends of tea rather than single-origin stock. Stoeckle et al used DNA barcoding, looking for standardised sequences of DNA to identify what was in ‘tea’. Using this technique they showed that genetic tools (DNA barcoding using rbcL and matK genes) could successfully extract DNA from 90% of commercial tea products. They found that around a third of herbal teas generated DNA identifications not found on labels. But that only identifies the biological material, can you also identify where it grew? Liu et al measured stable isotope ratios looking for variations in elements like carbon/nitrogen that reflect local climate & soil. They then added multi-element analysis detecting trace metals. These trace metals are absorbed from specific geology. Together isotopes & trace elements create a unique “chemical passport” for a growing region. Their success rate was over 87%. In the future any “Scottish tea” could be compared against known samples to confirm authenticity. More recently, the tools for detecting tea fraud have improved further. Reyrolle et al have combined multi-element signatures, strontium isotope ratios & volatile compounds for the first time – successfully discriminating 10 out of 11 tea regions, tightening the noose on tea fraud. The next fraud may be easier to spot, helping uphold the reputations of real Scottish tea growers. In the meantime, the jury at Thomas Robinson’s trial has found him guilty of fraud for a total of over £550,000 (750,000 USD). Sentencing is due to take place next month. If he’s looking for a lighter sentence, he may want to consider offering something to the Iron Goddess of Mercy. Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. Image: Canva. The post The Swindle That Left Tea With a Bitter Taste appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ May 31, 2025 at 03:00PM

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How do plants respond to hormone signals instead of cellular noise

How do plants respond to hormone signals instead of cellular noise https://ift.tt/j0SgR8w A good way to identify a plant is through its flowers. While there are many kinds of flowers, the flowers of each species tend to be extremely similar. So you’d expect a precise mechanism for developing the flowers. Research by Kong & colleagues suggests that it’s surprisingly chaotic. The cells that build flowers have genes switched on or off by hormones. Kong & colleagues wanted to see how variable the cell-to-cell response to a hormone, auxin, was. They needed a method of peering inside the cells as the hormone arrived. So, they used a modified form of thale cress. This plant, also known as Arabidopsis thaliana, is the botanists’ equivalent of a lab rat. They gave the plant glowing reporters, molecules that light up with fluorescence when genes turn on, to track three auxin-responsive genes including one called DR5 under a microscope. Kong & colleagues found that DR5 activity was ‘turned on’ by auxin, it varied wildly from one cell to the next – not because of differences in auxin levels, but due to random fluctuations inside the cells themselves. They saw this in the plant’s sepals. Sepals are the sturdy green leaf-like organs at the base of the bud that protect the emerging flower. Even though the cells are individually “noisy” and unpredictable, the plant repeatedly produces four protective sepals in a perfect pattern. “I really thought by the time we got to these four [sepal forming] regions, there would be a lot less randomness – but there’s not,” said lab leader, Adrienne Roeder in a press release. “Somehow, despite the noise, you still get these very clear patches where sepal organs initiate.” The key is a process called ‘spatial averaging.’ While any individual cell may be doing its own things in response to the hormone, overall groups of cells work together to smooth out the noise. It allows the plant to use randomness when it wants to and ignore it when it doesn’t, says Roeder. “Ultimately, the research challenges the idea that biological precision requires perfect control,” says Roeder. “Instead, it shows that nature doesn’t eliminate randomness – it builds reliable systems and processes that work despite it.” The team aren’t just interested in what the plant does well, they also want to know how and why the process breaks down. This could be useful in processes way beyond plants like, for example, cancer, where random gene activity can drive tumor evolution. Kong, S., Rusnak, B., Zhu, M. and Roeder, A.H.K. (2025) “Stochastic gene expression in auxin signaling in the floral meristem of Arabidopsis thaliana,” Nature Communications, 16(1), p. 4682. https://doi.org/g9k3k Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. The cover image shows flower buds forming from the stem cells of Arabidopsis thaliana. To show how randomly the gene DR5 is turned on, researchers used two identical copies of the gene—one glowing blue, the other yellow. In some cells, both are active (appearing white), while others show only blue or only yellow, highlighting the randomness. Still, DR5 is generally active where the hormone auxin tells it to be. All cell nuclei are marked in magenta. Image credit: Shuyao Kong. The post How do plants respond to hormone signals instead of cellular noise appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ May 30, 2025 at 11:10AM

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What were root genes doing before they started building roots?

What were root genes doing before they started building roots? https://ift.tt/6ioOVxY We often use the word “roots” as a metaphor for origins. If that’s the case then scientists in Japan have made the surprising discovery that the roots of roots aren’t in roots. Root development uses a gene that evolved before nature had the idea of developing roots. Hidehiro Fukaki says his research group found that a gene called RLF is necessary for lateral root development in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, But the RLF gene family is involved in plant organ development. Is RLF important in other plants too? They looked at RLF genes in the umbrella liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha. This is a bryophyte, a plant that doesn’t have roots. If it, and Arabidopsis have RLF genes, it’s likely their rootless common ancestor did around 500 million years ago. What did it use these root genes for? They found the RLF gene produces a protein that belongs to the vast group of heme-binding proteins and that means that it may bind a molecule called “heme,” which is involved in energy transfer in cells. But it turns out that this gene is doing more than helping manage energy. Fukaki & colleagues found liverworts lacking RLF have severe deformations in various organs, showing that RLF is involved in organ development in bryophytes as well. They also show that the Arabidopsis gene could perform its function in the liverwort and the liverwort’s gene in Arabidopsis. The RLF protein makes a pocket for heme, and then locks it in position with specific amino acids. This acts as a molecular switch for electron transfers or protein interactions, which could cause a cascade of signals triggering the building of new organs. Fukaki says this is significant. “The fact that RLF plays an important role in organ development since at least the dawn of land plants is an example of how evolution often co-opts existing mechanisms for new functions, such as for root development, which evolved only after liverworts and mosses branched off the other land plants.” A better understanding of evolution is worthwhile in itself, but because RLF is found in all sorts of plants it also has practical value. It might not have started as a root gene, but it is now. Improving roots would be helpful for increasing crops yields and resilience to global change. Iwata, K.P., Shimizu, T., Sakai, Y., Furuya, T., Fukumura, H., Kondo, Y., Masuda, T., Ishizaki, K. and Fukaki, H. 2025 “Evolutionary‐conserved RLF, a cytochrome b5‐like heme‐binding protein, regulates organ development in Marchantia polymorpha,” New Phytologist. https://doi.org/g9k8xd. Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. Image: Canva. The post What were root genes doing before they started building roots? appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ May 27, 2025 at 08:52PM

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Fronds with Benefits

Fronds with Benefits https://ift.tt/5GW6i1y What’s the best plant to boost an office? It depends what effect you want. Research by Kenro Tokuhiro and colleagues has found that humans respond to different leaf shapes in different ways. They say plants with small, complex leaves promote relaxation while large-leaved species create liveliness. Plant Classification. Tokuhiro et al. 2025 The researchers mapped 40 common indoor plants on a subjective chart based on “warm-cool” and “soft-hard” impressions. They then classified the results into four categories. “Dot,” “Line,” “Plane,” and “Surprise”—each evoking distinct psychological responses. The researchers then analysed the leaf shapes, finding coherent groups for Dot, Line and Plane. The Surprise group lived up to its name as it couldn’t be predicted by leaf measurements. It was the result of “…the odd shape of the whole plant and stem rather than the shape of the leaves.” Nephrolepis exaltata. Image: Canva. Plants with small, clustered leaves (the “Dot” group) consistently rated highest for relaxation effects among both experts and the public. These include ferns like Nephrolepis exaltata, Asparagus species and other plants with compound leaves. The relaxation effect of “Dot” plants may be linked to their higher fractal dimensions. These had a fractal dimension between 1.1. and 1.6, compared to 1.0 to 1.1 for the other plants. It is thought the “Dot” plants exhibit self-similarity patterns in a range our brains find attractive. Chamaedorea elegans. Image: Canva. Plants with narrow, elongated leaves (the “Line” group) were expected to enhance concentration, but results were inconsistent. Tokuhiro and colleagues note  “…the concentration scores of the line plant groups were not significantly higher than the relaxation or liveliness scores.” Monstera deliciosa. Image: Canva. Large-leaved “Plane” plants like Monstera, Alocasia, and Anthurium scored highest for creating lively, positive environments, with experts. The public sort of agreed, but they also rated them high for relaxation at the same time. The authors note that larger leaves have a bigger restorative effect. The team found they could reduce analysis of these leaf shapes to a surprisingly small number of measurements for the leaves: leaf length, width, and roundness. These three measurements were enough to classify the plants by their expected psychological effect. The authors admit their experiment in this paper is limited. “Because we focused on leaf shape, other influential factors such as size, color, texture, silhouette, and aroma, as well as other aspects of leaves and whole plants were not considered… In addition, evaluations were conducted for each plant individually, and did not consider how the different plants would be perceived when they combined with each other.” They also add that touch and movement are not considered, so this research is a baseline rather than comprehensive result. While the research doesn’t warrant throwing out established indoor plants, it raises interesting possibilities for new installations in places like hospitals where you may want to energise patients to exercise rather than relax. And if someone at work brings you a Monstera, are they dropping a hint? Tokuhiro, K., Sugimoto, H., Ikeuchi, A., Tsujie, T., Wada, E., Muramatsu, M., & Ohto, C. (2025). Subjective mapping of indoor plants based on leaf shape measurements to select suitable plants for indoor landscapes. Building and Environment, 276, 112828. https://doi.org/pnt8 Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. Cover: Adiantum raddianum / Canva. The post Fronds with Benefits appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ May 20, 2025 at 03:21PM

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The re-discovery of an endemic Hawaiian plant in an unexpected spot

In a frigid room lined with rows of floor to ceiling cabinets Kevin Faccenda, Invasive Species Program Manager at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, sat at his desk sifting through around 100 pressed specimens of Amaranthus. Amaranthus, a grain that has been cultivated by civilizations for centuries, is found naturally in a variety of areas. However, over time this crop has evolved into an…

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Snap, Upload, Save: How Citizen Photos Are Rescuing Mediterranean Pollinators

When you stop to admire a wildflower and snap a photo of a bee buzzing around it, you might not realise you’re contributing to one of the most important biodiversity databases in Europe. Thanks to a citizen science project called LIFE 4 Pollinators, thousands of such images are helping scientists understand and protect vital plant-pollinator interactions across the Mediterranean region. The…

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Why Thrips Might Be the Unknown Heroes of Pollination

They’re hardly visible, often considered agricultural pests. Yet thrips, those tiny insects you might sometimes notice on flower petals, turn out to be main players in pollination, according to a new study recently published in Annals of Botany.   For centuries, pollination research has been focused on bees, butterflies and other popular insects. Meanwhile, thrips, typically less than 2…

[botanyone]

Snakes Head Fritillaries Raise Their Heads Again in Iffley Meadows

Snake’s Head Fritillaries Raise Their Heads Again in Iffley Meadows https://ift.tt/DQsRJE9 The site Bird Guides has an interesting story on Fritillaria meleagris, the Snake’s Head Fritillary. A recent survey has five times more of these rare flowers recorded than last year. The survey is the annual count of Snake’s-head Fritillary at Iffley Meadows, which recorded almost 30000 flowers this year. Bird Guides quotes Senior Ecologist Colin Williams: “While it remained well below previous peak records, it’s a vast improvement on last year’s disappointing result.” It’s a big success for the @bbowt.bsky.social who counted just 500 plants when they first started counting. Floodplain meadow is rare in the UK, and so is tremendously valuable for many species that rely on this habitat. The recovery highlights how resilient the fritillaries are. Snake’s-head Fritillary is mostly found in the floodplains of the Thames and its tributaries. It is adapted to seasonal flooding, with floods suppressing competition, but dry seasons preventing bulb rot. According to Tatarenko et al it’s their ability to lie dormant that is key to their success. At some locations, Tatarenko and colleagues say that between 30% – 99% of plants can lie dormant over a year. This adaptation allows them to survive adverse conditions like the extreme flooding that devastated the 2024 count. It also allows one year’s count to vary wildly from another’s. Another factor that helps the plants survive is that they take advantage of micro-topography. Hytteborn et al show that the plants respond flexibly to the same conditions, by having variety of habitat in one location, which helps buffer populations against extreme conditions. A possible issue for F. meleagris conservation in the UK in the future may be a change of status. Kevin Walker argues that it’s most likely an introduced species, escaping downstream from gardens, when it was first grown in the 16th century. He finds no record of it in the wild before this time. He says: “It seems inconceivable that such an attractive plant would have been overlooked in the wild by herbalists in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.” He adds that it is known to have spread in Sweden and England, so may well be non-native. If so, it will no longer be as well protected in law. Nonetheless, the Snake’s Head Fritillaries of Iffley Meadow are a good indicator species for the health of the meadow. At least here, under the eyes of the BBOWT, Oxfordshire’s county flower should be safe. You can read more at @birdguides.bsky.social’s blogpost. Cross-posted to Bluesky & Mastodon. The post Snake’s Head Fritillaries Raise Their Heads Again in Iffley Meadows appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ May 06, 2025 at 12:13PM

[botanyone]

Tomato photosynthesis benefits from far-red light

Tomato photosynthesis benefits from far-red light https://ift.tt/OYPEiFC Greenhouse-grown crops, like tomato, are ever more important, but scientists are still working on the best supplemental light formula to support growth. In an article recently published in the Annals of Botany, Lazzarin and Dupont et al have found for the first time that far-red light is beneficial to photosynthesis in tomato plants, but the effects are complicated by the intensity of light used. Historically, the definition of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) excludes far-red light because rates of photosynthesis decline in light longer than 700 nm in wavelength. Typically, 400-700 nm is considered the optimal range for photosynthesis, and lights in this range are used in production. However, plants grown in sunlight are naturally exposed to far-red light, and so scientists such as Lazzarin and Dupont et al have set out to empirically test whether far-red light holds any benefits to growth. According to Lazzarin & Dupont et al their “study is the first to quantify the impact of short-term removal of far-red [light] in plants grown with a severely reduced amount of far-red [light] in the solar irradiance compared with plants grown with normal amounts of far-red.” Lazzarin & Dupont et al grew tomato plants under artificial solar light conditions with either severely reduced or normal, sun-like levels of far-red light and found that tomato plants lacking exposure to far-red light had shorter stems and fewer leaves. The leaves were also smaller and darker than normal. Furthermore, the leaves and stems displayed purplish discolorations, likely due to increased anthocyanin, a molecule known to play a role in light absorption in photosynthesis. When they measured photosynthesis, Lazzarin & Dupont et al found that the removal of far-red light at low light intensity had a negative impact on whole-plant photosynthesis, reducing plant and leaf carbon assimilation rates. No effect was seen at high light intensity. One-month-old SUN(FR−)-grown plants (left) and SUN-grown plants (right). Image: Lazzarin & Dupont et al et al (2025) Lazzarin & Dupont et al suggest that “The similarity in whole-plant photosynthetic rates [at high light intensity] can be explained by the higher photosynthetic rates of the individual leaves, which compensated for the reduction in leaf area in SUN(FR−)- compared with SUN-grown plants.” This explanation is based on individual leaf measurements of photosynthesis, which showed that the upper and lower leaves of the far-red restricted plants had higher photosynthetic rates than those exposed to normal levels of far-red light. Thus, the plants exposed to restricted far-red light at high light intensity were able to compensate for having fewer and smaller leaves. However, at low light intensity, the plants were not able to compensate for the loss of far-red light, and whole-plant photosynthesis was reduced. Based on these data, Lazzarin & Dupont et al conclude that “in young plants, the presence of far-red [light] in the solar irradiance increases whole-plant photosynthesis in tomato, but only at low light intensity.” READ THE PAPER Lazzarin, M., Dupont, K., van Ieperen, W., Marcelis, L.F.M. and Driever, S.M. (2025) ‘Far-red light effects on plant photosynthesis: from short-term enhancements to long-term effects of artificial solar light’, Annals of Botany, 135(3), pp. 589-602. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae104 The post Tomato photosynthesis benefits from far-red light appeared first on Botany One. via Botany One https://botany.one/ May 05, 2025 at 05:21PM