Biosentients - Science Biology… etc

Another round of thanks to J.G. in S.F.@Flickr for contributing an image to BPotD (original image | Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool). This continues the series on the plant biodiversity of ………

The black locust trees were in bloom last weekend. We saw them clouding the roadside as we got farther south on our drive to Roundrock. I have a few locust trees in my woods, but I only happened by one of them in my tromping about then, and it wasn’t blooming. This one is on my neighbor’s property and I passed it on my way to his cabin to get some water (ours having all leaked out on the drive down, which I think I told you about). Although black locust is believed to have been native to parts of Missouri, its original range was more prominently in Appalachia. Now it is ………

…..and yet another thank you to frequent BPotD contributor Jim in San Francisco (aka J.G. in S.F.@Flickr) for submitting today”s set of photographs (original image 1 | original image 2 | original image 3 | Botany Photo of the Day Flickr Pool). As always, I”m ………

Human-driven changes in the earth’s atmospheric composition are likely to alter plant diseases of the future. Scientists predict carbon dioxide will reach levels double those of the preindustrial era by the year 2050, complicating agriculture’s need to produce enough food for a rapidly growing population……..

The two most important growth hormones of plants, so far considered antagonists, also work synergistically. The activities of auxin and cytokinin, key molecules for plant growth and the formation of organs, such as leaves and buds, are in fact more closely interwoven than previously assumed. Researchers from Heidelberg, Tbingen (Gera number of) and Umea (Sweden) made this surprising discovery in a series of complex experiments using thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), a biological reference organism. The international team of researchers, led by Jan Lohmann, stem cell biologist at Heidelberg University, have now published their results in the scientific journal “Nature”. (Nature, 24. Juni 2010)……..

Despite sophisticated nutrient management of potato crops, quality and yield still see wide variability. Eventhough nutrients are already well understood, the influence of other environmental factors remains understudied. A research team from Michigan State University conducted a study to determine how the chemical and physical properties of soil, along with the light waves the plant absorbs and reflects, affect potato yield and variability. These findings were integrated with known factors to provide a more complete understand of the influences on potato growth……..

Arsenic is toxic to most forms of life, and occurs naturally in soil and ground water in a number of regions of the world. Chronic exposure to arsenic has been associated with lung, bladder and kidney cancer, and thus there are strict limits on allowable levels or arsenic in drinking water. Chemically similar to phosphorus, arsenic forms arsenate (AsO43-), which closely resembles phosphate (PO43-). Arsenate interferes with a number of phosphate-requiring metabolic reactions, including synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a ubiquitous and essential source of cellular energy. Thus, exposure to even low levels of arsenic can be extremely toxic……..

A University of Illinois study has demonstrated that agronomic practices can greatly increase the cancer-preventive phytochemicals in broccoli and tomatoes. “We enriched preharvest broccoli with different bioactive components, then assessed the levels of cancer-fighting enzymes in rats that ate powders made from these crops,” said Elizabeth Jeffery, a U of I professor of food science and human nutrition……..

If plants did not defend themselves in some way, they would certainly be gobbled up by a whole suite of voracious predators ranging from little insects to large mammalian herbivores. Indeed, not only do plants defend themselves, they typically have more than one kind of defense. When a plant has several options, how does it choose? Does it allocate multiple defenses to the same tissues or defend different tissues in different ways?…….

Students, gardeners, retirees and other volunteers across the nation who are taking part in a nationwide initiative–Project BudBurst–are finding hints that certain plants are blooming uncommonly early, perhaps as a result of climate change. The citizen researchers are recording the timing of flowers and foliage, amassing thousands of observations from across the nation to give scientists a detailed picture of our changing climate……..