flower plant News
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Loss of flowering plants: higher risks with non-random extinction
A recent study has shown that among flowering plants, species-loss does not occur randomly, but is clustered in families that contain only a small number of species. This suggests that the impact of biodiversity loss will be greater than previously thought and that resources should be targeted on particular plant families. Genetic relationships between flowering plant species (angiosperms) can ...
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Florendovirus: new genus of virus in plant genomes
While the extent and importance of endogenous viral elements have been thoroughly researched in animals, there is a dearth of knowledge when it comes to plants. Within the framework of a broader international effort, researchers at INRA Versailles-Grignon and Cirad have described a new genus of the Caulimoviridae family of viruses, called Florendovirus, whose members have colonised the genomes of ...
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Bees in the city: urban environments could help support pollinators
Urban areas may support higher levels of bee diversity than expected, new research has shown. The UK-wide study compared three different habitat types — nature reserves, farmland, and urban areas — and found a higher number of different bee species in urban areas than farmland. However, the overall pollinator diversity, which included species of bees, flies, hoverflies and ...
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Patches of flowers boost pollinator diversity and lead to higher crop yields
Falling levels of insect pollination are causing declining yields of important agricultural crops. However, new research from South Africa now indicates that planting small patches of native flowers in agricultural fields can be a profitable and sustainable method of increasing pollination and yield. Insect pollination is a vital ecosystem service as animal-pollinated crops form an essential ...
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Top 50 Mediterranean Island Plants threatened with extinction
World Conservation Union launches tool to save Mediterranean native plant diversity Gland, Switzerland, 9 November 2005 (IUCN) - Majorca, Ibiza, Sicily, Crete, Malta – for many, these islands conjure up images of dream holiday destinations. But the natural beauty that draws thousands of visitors to these islands every year is being fast eroded. Many of the close to 25,000 Mediterranean native ...
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Bees actively prefer nectar contaminated with neonicotinoid pesticides
Honeybees and bumblebees prefer feeding on nectar laced with certain neonicotinoid pesticides to uncontaminated food, new research has shown. Far from the predictions of some, that bees would avoid food contaminated with neonicotinoid pesticides if given the choice, a new study has shown that bees did not avoid any of the three most common neonicotinoids: imidacloprid, thiamethoxam or ...
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Oilseed rape genome sequenced
An International consortium of more than 30 research institutes, coordinated by scientists at INRA and CEA-Genoscope and associating CNRS and University of Evry, just succeeded in deciphering the complex genome of the recent oilseed rape1 (Brassica napus L, also known as rapeseed, rape or canola), the most important oilseed crop in Europe, Canada, and Australia. This scientific breakthrough paves ...
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Fruit Logistica, Berlin, Germany
The Leading Trade Fair for the International Fresh Produce Trade Attended by one of our UK reseller partners. FRUIT LOGISTICA is the most important business and communication arena of the international fresh produce trade. The industry’s key decision makers are there as exhibitors and trade visitors and have the opportunity of approaching potential business partners with their ...
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Borage plant frost protected by Oenosan
Borage plant frost protected by Oenosan Borage or Borago officinalis is an annual flowering plant. Borage is a herb native to the mediterranean region but nowadays it is found all over Europe from Denmark to the south of France. Its a self seeding plant and the leaves are edible. The plant has many useful characteristics and therefore it’s commercial ...
By Oenosan
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Top 50 Mediterranean Island Plants Threatened with Extinction Title
Nicosia, Cyprus and Gland, Switzerland, 6th July 2007 (IUCN) - Cyprus, Crete, Ibiza, Sicily, Malta – for many, these islands conjure up images of dream holiday destinations. But the natural beauty that draws thousands of visitors to these islands every year is being fast eroded. Many of the close to 25,000 Mediterranean native plants that make the region one of the world’s 34 biodiversity ...
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Cardamom crops affect forests, studies say
Cultivation of cardamom, a high value spice crop, can take a toll on evergreen forests in tropical countries, independent studies in Sri Lanka and India have shown. Apart from disturbing biodiversity, cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), plantations affect water and soil quality in tropical forests, the studies said. Researchers from Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom studying abandoned cardamom ...
By SciDev.Net
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Beyond Your Backyard: Little Things That Make the World Go ‘Round
June 22-28 is National Pollinator week. One week to celebrate the little things that make the world go round. What’s all the buzz? Pollinators are a huge group of insects with species that have different life histories, biologies, and needs. They boggle the mind at all that they’re doing right under our noses and we don’t even know a quarter of what that is. Here’s what ...
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Plant Morphology and Spectrum: How Plants Respond to Light Quality
Light is one of the most important factors for optimizing plant growth. Plants collect energy from light to make sugars and these sugars are used for the growth of roots, leaves, stems and flowers. Plants use light for both photosynthesis and to respond to the environment to optimize their growth. Light can be described as the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum which extends from ...
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Which seeds to sow for bees?
Farmers could help to maintain populations of bees and other pollinators by sowing inexpensive seed mixes on their land, a new study suggests. Researchers surveyed pollinators visiting study plots in Berkshire, UK, and explored how sowing different seed mixes and using different management techniques affected the flowers produced and the pollinators visiting them. Overall, 84% of the crop ...
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Fast-Growing Plants Adapt Quickly to Climate Change
IRVINE, California (ENS) - Plants with short life cycles can adapt in just a few years to climate change, University of California-Irvine, UCI, scientists have discovered. This finding suggests that plants that grow rapidly such as weeds may cope better with global warming than slower-growing plants such as redwood trees. 'Some species evolve fast enough to keep up with environmental change,' ...
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Protectuin for Pollinators: Conservation Groups and Scientists Push USDA to Save Wild Bumble Bees
Leading conservation and science voices renewed their call today for a key federal agency to protect bumble bees in light of numerous threats contributing to population declines. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Defenders of Wildlife and Dr. Robbin Thorp asked the Secretary of Agriculture to take action on a petition to regulate the ...
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Soil nitrogen increased through greater plant biodiversity
Increased plant biodiversity improves grassland soil quality by boosting its nitrogen levels, even in the absence of nitrogen-fixing plants, recent research has found. Previous research has shown that grasslands with higher biodiversity had higher levels of carbon and nitrogen. However, in the case of nitrogen it has been suggested that this was purely a result of increased numbers of ...
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The Role of LEDS in Speed Breeding
Some of the most important crops for feeding the ever-increasing global population include wheat and barley. In order to meet the future demand, scientists have a task of finding ways to improve efficiencies in breeding these and other, similar plant species. Typically, more than 10 years are needed to develop novel cultivars with an advanced agronomic performance. On one hand it is because ...
By Valoya Oy
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IRRI calls for stricter controls on use of pesticides
Governments across Asia need to improve their regulation of way that pesticides are marketed, and should ban certain pesticides from use in rice production completely, according to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which is based in Manila, the Philippines. IRRI released an action plan listing potential strategies for scaling back pesticide use and adopting ecological growing ...
By SciDev.Net
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European Commission approved Terpenoid Blend QRD 460
Bayer CropScience has reached an important milestone towards the market introduction of its biological insecticide Requiem in Europe. Its active ingredient Terpenoid Blend QRD 460 has been recently approved by the European Commission. For growers and the entire food value chain, Requiem provides control of sucking pests and extends quality of harvested produce. First registrations of Requiem are ...
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