May 2020
In a pollen shortage, bees can make tomatoes bloom early by nipping foliage
Pollen-deprived bumblebees may speed up plant blooming by biting leaves
Mar 2023
Detecting the sounds could offer a new way to monitor water stress in crops
Stressed plants make ultrasonic clicking noises
Jul 2021
More northern parts of the Arctic are becoming greener
A stunning visualization of Alaska’s Yukon Delta shows a land in transition
May 2024
It's the first observation of an animal treating a wound with a plant used in human medicine
This orangutan used a medicinal plant on his face wound
Sep 2022
Sucking sap uses 9.4 quadrillion watt-hours of power annually
The worldwide water-lifting power of plants is enormous
May 2019
Trees provide substantial benefits to the environment. In addition to improving air quality, reducing stormwater runoff, serving as a wildlife habitat, and sequestering carbon by absorbing carbon dioxide, trees also cool the atmosphere through shade and transpiration (loss of water vapor). As the world’s climate warms, some cities are planting trees to increase the amount of canopy cover needed to counteract the heat island effect, an atmospheric condition in which urban areas are warmer than their rural surroundings. The percentage of tree canopy coverage that is needed to realize a cooling effect had been largely unknown until researchers reporting in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (April 2019) measured the effect of canopy cover on daytime air temperature in a city in the Midwestern United States using bicycle-mounted sensors. See also: Global climate change; Plant-water relations; Tree; Urban climatology; Urban tree leaves remove fine-particulate air pollution
Counteracting the urban heat island effect with tree cover