All leaves are green. Or are they? Lundquist et al recently surveyed a diversity of plant species and found at least 130 have iridescent blue leaves, making them more common than you might think. These ‘living jewels’, widely distributed in the dark understories of tropical rainforests, have photonic crystals in their leaves that produce intense, vivid metallic blue hues.  Most of the visual world is coloured by pigments – reds, yellows, blues and greens — that are produced by molecules reflecting back colour. For example, chlorophyll is the pigment that makes leaves appear green. But, no ..read more

You can listen to this page as an audio file (English only). Deep learning models have revolutionized plant modeling by automating the extraction of plant features and characteristics from images. This high-throughput data enables researchers to analyze complex plant traits, such as growth patterns and disease susceptibility, more efficiently. Deep learning models must be trained using diverse images to develop robust and generalized representations. However, obtaining this type of data is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. Apart from conducting experiments, it involves the metic ..read more

You can listen to this page as an audio file (English only) Model-assisted decision-making can minimize farmers’ vulnerability to climate change by predicting crop yield and the variables that influence it. With this information farmers can anticipate changes in crop yields, adjust their farming practices, explore crop diversification options, and plan for adaptation strategies to reduce vulnerability to climate-related risks. A new study published in in silico Plants compares the yield predictive capacity of multiple modeling approaches. Achraf Mamassi, a former PhD student at University of L ..read more

The unique palm flora of New Caledonia contains over 40 species found nowhere else on Earth. However, the complex geological history of the island and lack of detailed phylogenetic studies have left major questions around how this diversity arose. A new multi-year study led by Victor Pérez-Calle recently published in Annals of Botany has constructed the most comprehensive phylogenetic tree of New Caledonian palms to date, tracing the origins and evolution of these iconic island endemic plants over millions of years. The team sequenced 151 nuclear genes from 37 endemic palm species alongside 77 ..read more

Flowers, besides being lovely gifts on special occasions, are highly complex structures responsible for the reproduction of flowering plants and, consequently, the formation of fruits and seeds. Most flowering plants, known as angiosperms, are hermaphroditic, meaning that within a single flower are the structures that produce ovules – known as pistils – and pollen grains – known as stamens. As a result, in hermaphroditic plants, there is a higher likelihood that the pollen reaching the pistil comes from the same flower rather than from flowers of other individuals. This phenomen ..read more

In a world where honeybees (Apis mellifera) play a vital role in plant pollination and honey production, different concerns have arisen regarding their dominance over wild pollinators. Previous studies have shown that honeybees, now a widespread introduced species in the Americas and Oceania, can lead to a decline in the richness and abundance of native pollinators and, thus, an overall decrease in floral resource utilisation. Such a negative effect likely occurs because honeybees compete intensively with native pollinators for resources such as nectar and pollen, reducing ..read more

Imagine plants not just beautifying our gardens and purifying our air, but also acting as natural mines for critical resources like rare earth elements (REEs). These elements, vital for modern technologies, are scarce. But scientists have uncovered several new plant species with exceptional abilities to accumulate REEs from soil. By screening thousands of specimens across different lineages, Léo Goudard and colleagues discovered new REE-rich taxa that could aid bioprospecting and expand options for more sustainable mining of these crucial metals. The Herbarium of the Muséum national d’Histoir ..read more

Waves play an important role in coastal ecology and can contribute to shoreline erosion. Giant kelp, such as Macrocystis pyrifera, strongly interact with surface gravity waves, which are the typical sea swells we think of in ocean waters. Scientists have wondered to what extent this common macroalgae can damp waves and therefore prevent coastal erosion.   To answer this question, Elsmore et al. went to Marguerite Reef off the coast of Palos Verdes, California. This coastal area is undergoing kelp forest restoration after severe overgrazing by the purple urchin Strongylocentrotus purp ..read more

What goes on behind these walls? This fundamental question has fascinated generations of botanists ever since the first microscopic observation of plant cells in 1665, and it will surely entertain many more in the centuries to come. We have learned a great deal about the inner workings of plants since then. Yet, many of these discoveries were not made via direct imaging but rather indirect measurements followed by reasonable deduction. The colourful depictions of intracellular processes found in textbooks are, to a large extent, approximations of what can be concluded after extracting cellular ..read more

In 2016, UNESCO declared the 11th of February the International Day of Women and Girls in Science – an initiative aimed at filling the gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEMs). The main goals are promoting access of girls to education in scientific disciplines and recognising the role of women in Research & Development. Inspired by the work of Prof. Silvia E. Braslavsky, we dedicate the Women in Science Day 2024 to exceptional researchers who greatly contributed to our knowledge in Photobiology. This research field tackles the complex interaction bet ..read more