Out-Of-Control Plants? A couple of reports in the science news a few years ago seemed to suggest that one way to cope with global climate change may be unbridled plant growth. One such report involved the discovery of a cellular regulator for the synthesis of cellulose by plant cells. The…
You Talkin’ To Me? Dodder (genus Cuscuta) is an example of a parasitic plant. That is, it derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. In a previous post, we saw how dodder seedlings may “sniff out” their victims. But dodder seedlings may do much more…
By 2050, What Will Be The Greatest Human Impact on Plants? I first encountered the term “anthropocene” back in 2007 when I was writing a manuscript regarding some of our research in Yellowstone National Park (see Ref. 1 below). A more detailed view regarding the nature and implications of the…
Plant “Extremophiles”? Recently, I was reading about a new species of metal-eating plant discovered in the Philippines, and I discovered a new word (to me, at least). This new word is “extremophyte“. Simply put, most extremophytes are plants evolutionarily adapted to thrive in highly stressful environments. Physically stressful, that is,…
Zombie Moss? In the year 450 A.D., Attila the Hun was invading Europe, the last of the Roman empire was crumbling (including the abandonment of Londinium), the Aztec civilization in Mexico was just beginning, and a little moss plant (a bryophyte) was growing on Signy, a small subantarctic island. Now…
Frozen Trees In a previous post we saw some of the ways that cold-adapted plants are able to tolerate sub-freezing temperatures, or not. But how do trees and other plants survive extreme cold, that is, temperatures well below zero degrees C. “Different tree species differ in the depth of low…
The Increasing Need for More Salt-Tolerant Crop Plants The salinization of soils is a very serious agricultural problem. Because saline soils can adversely affect the establishment, growth, and development of crop plants, leading to huge losses in yield, the significance of soil salinity in reducing agricultural productivity is enormous. Unfortunately,…
Yes, You Can Water Some Plants With Seawater Although salty water and saline environments are usually harmful to most plants, why should anybody care about salt stress on plants? Here’s a good answer to that question: “Ubiquitously, no toxic substance restricts plant growth more than does salt. Salt stress presents…
Why Not Irrigate Plants With Seawater? A recent report about how salt stops plant growth got me wondering about what’s the latest news regarding plant salt tolerance. But first, let’s see why watering most plants (including all the major crop plants) with seawater would be harmful, and likely be lethal.…
Are plants likely to be more heat stressed in the future? The levels of the so-called “greenhouse gases” – carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) – are increasing in Earth’s atmosphere. This, most climate scientists agree, is resulting in global warming. (Though I prefer the term “global weirding”.) Among the…