Plant Ecology

Time for the birds, the bees, the insects and the wind. These catkins graced one of the trees (don't know the name: I'm not good on trees other than maples) in the lane this week. No insects seemed nearby, so I'm assuming that they will be fertilized by wind-blown pollen. I'm reminded of the strategy that Linnaeus used when he did his landmark work on plant classification in the 17th century. He divided the classes of flowering plants into orders on the basis of their female organs, their...Read Full Story

“This device is very precise, and will allow a plant to receive just the right amount of water,” said Hans-Dieter Seelig, a research associate at the University of Colorado-Boulder’s  BioServe Space Technology Center, in a news release. “If a plant can tell a water valve when to open and when to close, farmers are going to save a lot of money.” With Colorado producing four leading crops of corn, wheat, hay, and potatoes, it is no wonder that their 30,000 farms and ranches and 30.7 million...Read Full Story

This thoroughly revised and updated book is now in full colour and augmented by many new illustrations and references. Brighter than ever, “The Ecology of Plants” covers a range of topics that you might find in a general ecology textbook, but with the focus on the interactions between plants and their environment over a range of scales. Throughout the text, human environmental influences are discussed, as well as the importance of evolutionary and other historical processes for current...Read Full Story

This is our group blog, which is unique because any Zimbio member can post an entry to it. Some members blog about recent news and trends related to the portal topic, others recount relevant personal stories. You can also comment on and rate existing blog entries, to voice your opinion and to help the community identify which members and entries on the portal are must-reads. Got an interesting idea or story to share with other members of this portal? Well, then put on your journalist's cap...Read Full Story

2 back-back interesting articles about research that has found that roots act like brains , about slime that changed its growth pattern to grow towards food. Which in an oblique way opens the mind to the possibility of holistic theory, viz., that whole extracts of plants carry intelligent information to the whole human which is why they are capable of treating the body's imbalances. Excerpted: “The tip of the root (of plants) acts like the brain of one of the lower animals,” Darwin said...Read Full Story

What does Waxmyrtle mean? Waxmyrtle ( Wax Myrtle ) is also known as Southern bayberry or candleberry because early American colonists used the fruit's pale blue, waxy covering to make fragrant bayberry candles. This custom is still carried out today by crafts people here and in other countries.Read Full Story