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Etaerio - A Plant News Weblog

Etaerio: an aggregate fruit. Etaerio: an aggregation of news stories about plants.


Within One Cubic Foot

Category(-ies): Botanical Art , Plant Conservation

In this photo essay, renowned ecologist E.O. Wilson writes about the importance and magnificence of the smaller organisms on the planet. Photography by David Liittschwager highlights 5 different ecosystems, including a coral reef and deciduous forest, representing the many different creatures that inhabit 1 cubic foot of the earth.

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And another thank you to Claire Thompson for again contributing a weblog entry.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 PM on March 19, 2010 | Comments (0)



Hands Off!

Category(-ies): Plant Discoveries

Researchers from Oklahoma State University recently published a study that reveals touching the soft furry leaves of the African violet can actually cause damage to the plant. The scientists found that plants had more damage, fewer leaf numbers and smaller size when brushed with bare hands that had been applied with lotion than those brushed with gloved hands. Their results may encourage African violet enthusiasts to keep their hands off the attractive plants.

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Thank you (once again) to Claire Thompson, UBC Work Study student, for writing this entry.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 PM on March 17, 2010 | Comments (2)



Rising Carbon Dioxide and Plant Communities

Category(-ies): Climate Change

Scientists from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service are finding that rising carbon dioxide levels can have a wide range of impacts on plant communities. Their findings suggest that some weedy invasives may benefit from higher CO2 levels. Forest species such as the longleaf pine may have increased drought tolerance and higher survival rates from rising CO2 levels. The scientists also found that greater CO2 levels cause chemical changes in pine needles that may translate to a lower nutritional content for smaller organisms. These findings suggest altered carbon and nutrient cycling in forests.

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Thanks again to Claire Thompson for researching and writing this entry.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 PM on March 16, 2010 | Comments (0)



The "New" Carnivores

Category(-ies): Plant Discoveries

Researchers at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew have recently discovered that some varieties of tomato and potato plants are carnivorous predators that capture and kill insects for nutrients. Their discovery has added 325 new species to all known carnivorous plants, and revealed that the number of carnivorous plants may have been underestimated by up to 50%. Unlike the venus flytrap, these carnivourous plants do not directly ingest their prey, but trap and kill insects with sticky hairs on their stems, and later absorb the nutrients through their roots once insects decay and fall to ground. This ability is thought to be an adaption to living in wild areas with poor soil.

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Thank you again to Claire Thompson for providing this write-up.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 PM on March 15, 2010 | Comments (0)



Botanical Meets Digital

Category(-ies): Botanical Art

This pictorial features the work of Macoto Murayama, whose colorful computer generated illustrations reveal the geometric, almost mechanical features of some common flowers.

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This weblog entry is also courtesy of work-study student, Claire Thompson.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 12:00 PM on March 12, 2010 | Comments (0)



Lose Biodiversity, Increase Diseases?

Category(-ies): Plant Conservation , Plants, Food and Medicine

Thank you again to Claire Thompson, UBC BG work-study student, for contributing to Etaerio.

For the first time ever, scientists have linked a rise in infectious diseases with biodiversity loss and extinction. A team of seven researchers reviewed studies on newly discovered diseases, and have shown that emergence or reemergence of many diseases is linked to biodiversity loss. From one study in Amazonian Peru, it was found that the loss of structural diversity among trees resulting from deforestation caused higher densities of mosquitoes that transmit malaria. EPA Researcher Montira Pongsiri suggests that these findings may mark the beginning of a movement to bring epidemiology and ecology together.

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 3:35 PM on March 11, 2010 | Comments (2)



Assisted Migration - the Answer to Climate Change?

Category(-ies): Climate Change , Other Botanical Gardens , Plant Conservation

Thank you to Claire Thompson, UBC BG work-study student, for writing this entry.

Scientists at the Chicago Botanic Garden are sending teams of people out across the Midwest and northern Great Plains of America to collect seeds from 1500 prairie species before 2010.

The collections are part of a project to preserve species and investigate assisted migration of plants as a response to climate change. Researchers are planning to test this idea with Pitcher's thistle, a native plant to sand dunes along several of the Great Lakes.

Assisted migration is a controversial issue among scientists, as it has risks associated with interfering with complex habitats and uncertainties surrounding climate change. Scientists at the botanic gardens in favor of assisted migration have recently finished a paper outlining a strategic framework for collecting and prioritizing seeds from species that are most likely to go extinct under climate change, and for predicting where species should be relocated.

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Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 7:00 AM on November 23, 2009 | Comments (0)