Biofertilizers change plants’ natural microbes
Scientists tested how mixtures of plant-growth-promoting bacteria affect the microbial communities of different sunflower varieties for use…
Category: Ecology
Ants struggle to protect host plants under rising temperatures
Scientists found that ants under heat stress were less active, which left their host acacia plants vulnerable to herbivores and other…
Scientists probe plant-based soil cleanup
Researchers tested plant-based soil remediation methods and found that adding beneficial microbes to copper-contaminated soil improved…
The European ant that clones another species
European ant queens can lay eggs of a different species to mate with them and create a separate set of workers. These worker ants may…
Hidden bacteria dominate Earth’s deep soils
Scientists showed that an understudied bacterium is widespread in deep soils worldwide and adapted to life with very little energy.
Why do deep-sea microbes have such small appetites?
The deep sea is one of Earth’s largest reservoirs of carbon, yet microbes don’t consume very much of it. Researchers showed that this is…
Metal-tolerant plants could change the future of mining
Researchers demonstrated that some plant species store high amounts of nickel in their biomass, making them good candidates for metal…
Lava tubes contain unknown “microbial dark matter”
Researchers discovered lava tubes on Mauna Loa containing previously unknown microorganisms with metabolisms and communities that could…
This ant queen gives birth to a different species
Researchers found that the queen of one ant species can produce both her own species and another by cloning the males of the other species…
How quickly can forests recover from wildfires?
Scientists modeled forest productivity before and after wildfires. They found that plant regrowth depended on the type of biome and how much…