| AMAZON RAINFOREST DRUNK ON CARBON DIOXIDE |
| Strange things are happening in lush Amazonian rainforests and rising levels of carbon dioxide could be the cause, scientists announced today. |
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| PLANT PATHOLOGISTS: RUST DISEASE IMPACTING ORNAMENTAL PLANT PRODUCTION |
| An increase in the spread of rust diseases could have devastating results on the fast-growing ornamental crop industry, say pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS). |
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| DESERT DUST ENABLES ALGAE TO GROW |
| Biologists from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research have demonstrated that desert dust promotes the growth of algae. Scientists had already assumed that the iron in desert dust stimulated algal growth, but this has now been demonstrated for the first time. The researchers have published their findings in the December issue of the Journal of Phycology. |
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| ARMIES OF FIGHTING FUNGI PROTECT CHOCOLATE TREES |
| Biologists have discovered a new and intricate ecological relationship between cacao trees and the ubiquitous fungi that inhabit them, in which the trees are protected by armies of "good" fungi against their "evil" counterparts. |
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| SLEAZY FLORAL NIGHTCLUB LURES BEETLES |
| When South American scarab beetles want a hot date they head for a bizarre flower that offers a steamy nightclub atmosphere, according to a new study. |
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| PLANTS MOVE TO THE BEAT OF THE RISING SUN |
| Leaves move and flowers open in a rhythmic dance that changes according to a plant's latitude, say U.S. researchers. |
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| BRIGHT AUTUMN COLOURATION IN TREES - A WARNING SIGNAL TO INSECTS? |
| Most deciduous trees change colour in autumn. However, both within and between species, there is considerable variation both in the timing and magnitude of autumn colour change. Hamilton and Brown recently proposed a hypothesis to explain this phenomenon. |
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| ANCIENT MUTANT POLLEN OUT FOR THE COUNT |
| Conifer tree pollen from 250 million years ago show the same mutations as those of modern pines hit by fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, a new study has found. |
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| OCEAN PLANT LIFE SLOWS DOWN AND ABSORBS LESS CARBON |
| Plant life in the world's oceans has become less productive since the early 1980s, absorbing less carbon, which may in turn impact the Earth's carbon cycle, according to a study that combines NASA satellite data with NOAA surface observations of marine plants. |
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| WSU ECOLOGIST SAYS DEFENSE BY PLANTS TO DISEASE MAY LEAVE THEM VULNERABLE TO INSECT ATTACK |
| Some of the defenses plants use to fight off disease leave them more susceptible to attack by insects, according to a Don Cipollini, Ph.D., a chemical ecologist at Wright State University. |
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