Flora Library - News about flowers, plants & trees

Forest & trees

Pine needles from Christmas trees could be turned into paint and food sweeteners - Abandoned Christmas trees could be saved from landfill and turned into paint and food sweeteners according to new research.

Trees' 'enemies' help tropical forests maintain their biodiversity - Scientists have long struggled to explain how tropical forests can maintain their staggering diversity of trees without having a handful of species take over -- or having many other species die out. The answer, researchers say, lies in the soil found near individual trees, where natural 'enemies' of tree species reside.

Forests, like humans, require a balanced diet - The world's forests are on a fast food diet of carbon dioxide, which is currently causing them to grow faster. But a researcher finds evidence suggesting that forest growth may soon peak as the trees deplete nitrogen in the soil over longer growing seasons.

News & articles

How to feed the world by 2050? Recent breakthrough boosts plant growth by 40 percent - Recent advances to address hunger through agricultural advancement have been shown to boost crop growth by 40 percent by creating a shortcut for a glitch that plagues most food crops.
From vibrations alone, acacia ants can tell nibbles from the wind - Researchers find that the ants of the acacia tree are tipped off to the presence of herbivores by vibrations that run throughout the trees when an animal gets too close or begins to chew. As a result, the insects begin patrolling the acacia's branches more actively. Remarkably, the researchers show, the ants don't react when the trees' movements are caused only by the wind.
New molecular blueprint advances our understanding of photosynthesis - Researchers have used one of the most advanced microscopes in the world to reveal the structure of a large protein complex crucial to photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert sunlight into cellular energy. The finding will allow scientists to explore for the first time how the complex functions, and could have implications for the production of a variety of bioproducts, including plastic alternatives and biofuels.