Much can be found online about why leaves change colors in the fall…
…but relatively little about the final part of the story, namely leaf drop.
Components of this terminal process, called leaf abscission, are actually put into place at the beginning of the leaf’s life. At the end, a chemical signal from the leaf itself triggers [...]
Archive for October, 2008
The Falling of Autumn Leaves – A Biological Separation Process Triggered by a Gaseous Plant Hormone
Posted in Plant Hormones, Senescence (Aging), tagged agriculture, Biofuels, botany, plants, science on October 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Hot Plants! – How Will Plants Cope with Heat Stress Caused by Global Warming?
Posted in Plant Stress, tagged agriculture, botany, global warming, plants, science on October 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Are plants likely to be more heat stressed in the future?
The levels of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) are increasing in Earth’s atmosphere. This, most climate scientists agree, is resulting in global warming. Among the environmental effects of global warming are higher frequencies of extreme heat-waves.
Unusually high temperatures, especially for [...]
The Wood-Wide-Web: Are Plants Inter-Connected by a Subterranean Fungal Network?
Posted in The Neighbors, tagged ecology, evolution, fungi, plants, science, symbiosis on October 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Mushrooms are the visible manifestations (sexual organs, actually) of microscopic, soil-dwelling fungi that form mutually-beneficial partnerships with plants.
Since these filamentous fungi interact with the roots of plants, such symbiotic relationships are called mycorrhizae, literally “fungus root”.
Fossil evidence supports the idea that these plant-fungal partnerships are as old as the emergence of terrestrial plants (about 500 [...]
As Carbon Emissions Reach Record Levels, How Will Increased CO2 Affect Photosynthesis in Plants?
Posted in CO2, Photosynthesis, tagged agriculture, botany, climate change, ecology, plants, science on October 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are rising faster than the worst-case scenario postulated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ).
In the past 250 years the amount of atmospheric CO2 has increased by over 35% (from 280 to 383 ppm), due mainly to human activities such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. [...]
