Friday, 24 May, 2013

Teeny little video cameras called minirhizotrons snapped these photos of wetland plant roots. The cameras will help scientists anticipate how the plants might respond to climate change. Minirhizotrons give scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory a technological boost by allowing them to study living roots, especially the really small ones, without harming the plants. [...]

Cats may devour some plants but ignore others as a simple matter of taste, says Sandra Sawchuk, a clinical instructor at the School of Veterinary Medicine. “It’s each to his own. I like romaine lettuce over iceberg; cats can have their own desires.” Although cats are carnivores, they may have grown accustomed to eating plant [...]

Mark Renz, Extension weed scientist at UW-Madison’s Department of Agronomy, says that varying environmental conditions ensure that virtually all plants, including dandelions, have some good years and some poor ones. However, dandelions may be a special case, he says, since they seem perfectly suited to conditions in this area. “I’ve only been in Wisconsin for [...]

The luscious aroma of flowers attracts lovers, and the biological role of that smell is similar: to attract pollinators. “Plants need to attract insects, bats and hummingbirds to transfer the pollen and create fertile seeds,” says Hugh Iltis, professor emeritus of botany at UW-Madison. Pollination is the transfer of pollen (the plant equivalent of sperm) [...]

This CSI is Salvinia molesta, or Giant Salvinia, a fast-growing, free-floating aquatic fern that is native to Brazil. Instead of roots, the Salvinia uses a three-leaf or frond approach: two water resistant fronds float atop the surface while the third frond is divided into sections and submersed in the water, serving as a “root.” This [...]