Tag: "pollinate" at biology news

Amino acids in nectar enhance butterfly fecundity: A long awaited link

...es, flies or butterflies to visit and successfully pollinate their flowers, plants have evolved intriguing mechanisms and attractants, of which nectar is best known. Thirty years ago, researchers discovered that nectars of flowers pollinated by butterflies contain substantial amounts of amino acids. Recent ex...

Wild grasses and man-made wheats advance research capabilities

...rosses, but it is difficult." The researcher must pollinate from a wild species to a hexaploid wheat and then rescue and nurture the developing embryo to get a plant, he said. Hexaploid wheat has three genomes or sets of chromosomes. This is the makeup of the typical bread wheat. After such a cross, the init...

Researchers release new variety of asparagus

...plants are then planted in an isolated field. Bees pollinate the females, leading to seed production. These seeds are then sold and planted by farmers who produce the spears consumers eventually will buy. "The first commercial harvest of seeds has only just been completed," Roose said. DePaoli asparagus is si...

Value of services performed by insects tops $57 billion in US

...y, provide more than $4.5 billion in pest control, pollinate $3 billion in crops and clean up grazing lands, which saves ranchers some $380 million a year. And these are "very conservative" estimates that probably represent only a fraction of the true value, reports Losey, associate professor of entomology at...

Wild bees and the flowers they pollinate are disappearing together

...losers" were consistently different; insects which pollinate a limited range of flower species or which have specialised habitat needs were most often lost. Overall, a small number of common generalist pollinators are replacing a larger number of rarer specialist species. Stuart Roberts from the University...

Two studies on bee evolution reveal surprises

...nt evolution by spreading pollen and preferring to pollinate some types of plants over others. Because scientists assume that bees have essentially always been around, pollinating plants and "creating" new species, it has been a mystery why the bee fossil record only dated back about 65 million years. Until...

World's largest flower evolved from family of much tinier blooms

...its help the flower attract the carrion flies that pollinate it. "While it's surprising to find this giant plant evolved from a family typified by much smaller blossoms, rafflesia is unusual enough that it's frankly been difficult to imagine it fitting neatly into any plant family," Davis says. "Many botanis...

Warning from Asian bees

...keepers have also relied on NSWgrown stock to help pollinate their almond trees. In 2006, Australian beekeepers cashed in, shipping export package bees worth $3-4 million to America. However, this is in contrast with the rest of the local industry, beset by poor yields and low prices, brought on by the d...

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