News by Subject Biology

New research finds that global South countries have pledged the largest areas of land to forest restoration, and are also farthest behind in meeting their targets due to challenging factors such as population growth, corruption, and deforestation. 'We've identified countries that need help, not failures,' says UMBC's Matt Fagan. With the right kind of international support -- that listens to locals and generates creative solutions -- communities can implement policy that will make positive change.

A new computational model shows how different patterns of crop rotation -- planting different crops at different times in the same field -- can impact long-term yield when the crops are threatened by plant pathogens. Maria Bargués-Ribera and Chaitanya Gokhale of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany present the model in PLOS Computational Biology.

Photosynthesis, the process by which some organisms convert sunlight into chemical energy, is well known. But, it is a complex phenomenon, which involves a myriad of proteins. The molecule Chl f, a new type of chlorophyll, is known to play a part in photosynthesis, but owing to its recent discovery, its location and functions are not understood. Scientists from Japan have now analyzed in detail the protein complex involved in photosynthesis and uncovered several new aspects about Chl f.

Chinese scientists from the Technical Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have recently shown how the tiny apex structure in plant leaves controls water drainage and confers an evolutionary advantage.

In the face of rapid climate change, it is important that plants can adapt quickly to new conditions to ensure their survival. Using field experiments and plant genome studies, an international research team has pinpointed areas of the genome that are affected during local adaptation to contrasting climates. This new insight into local adaptation represents an important first step towards future development of crops that are resilient to climate change.