… questions, since they are on the cutting edge of scientific understanding. One such question is: “What are those specs of gold on the monarch butterflies?” The short answer is “Nobody knows!” But there are a few interesting theories. Lepidopterists approach strange … they are very vulnerable to predators like birds, since they can’t move. Their only defense is to display colors and patterns that either signal poison or blend into the environment. That …
Type: Blog
… . Amended terra preta soils created long ago still cover 10 percent of the Amazon Basin. It is important to understand that “slash and char” is different than “slash and burn,” which has many negative environmental implications, like … study showed improvement in plant disease resistance when biochar was used. So what exactly is modern-day biochar? Biochar is similar to charcoal, except that it is formulated specifically …
Type: Blog
… you just can’t wait for that first day when you lose the covers and open the windows. It is that breath of fresh air that tells us summer is just around the corner. Roses under a warm winter blanket of mulch. Our Krasberg Rose Garden is ready for its breath of fresh air, too. All winter, many of our roses have been under their …
Type: Blog
… and hoping winter will end, cheering a thaw and higher temperatures. What you might not know is that all this snow has a number of benefits that will help your garden and landscape later this spring. Snow is a great insulator! As winter presses on, the ground freezes deeper and deeper. This prolonged … the soil. Warmer soil keeps microbes more active, which helps break down any plant waste that is in the soil, releasing nutrients. As a result of this insulation, your plants will have a much …
Type: Blog
… exquisitely preserved intact in their original three-dimensional shape. One of the new species is in the genus Spondias (hog plums), which today grows in tropical Central and South America and tropical Asia. This new Panamanian species of Spondias is the first fossil record of this plant. The second species is in the genus Antrocaryon (Ameixa or jacaiacá plums), which today are native to the Amazonian …
Type: Research
… There is a Native American myth that is believed to have originated with the Onondaga tribe of the Iroquois nation of northeastern North America. It is a creation legend about how the earth (the land) was created. The legend incorporates a number …
Type: Blog
… the Mongolian steppe. it doesn’t get any better than this! A little background first. Mongolia is a large country in Central Asia with a population very close in size to the city of Chicago (Mongolia: 2.89 million; Chicago: 2.71 million). But that is where the similarities end. More than half of the population (roughly 1.7 million) lives in … to the south. The Gobi Desert is shared by Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. Looking for the fossil site It might look like central Montana, but those aren’t buffalo! My trip to Mongolia in late …
Type: Blog
… the pollinators visiting these plants. A standout plant, looking almost like a small shrub, is white wild indigo (Baptisia alba). This is the white-flowered cousin to blue wild indigo (Baptisia australis) ; this plant, not native … tubular flowers, foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) . On the lower half of the flower is a large hairy sterile stamen (the part of the flower that produces pollen); perhaps this …
Type: Blog
… basics about male and female flowers. And then they started talking pollen. Flashback: What is pollen? Tiny squiggles of pollen emerge from the male flowers about three days after Spike’s … that needs to meet up with another flower’s female genetic material. Technically, pollen is a haploid or gamete, the cell that carries the male half of the plant’s chromosomes. The covering of a pollen grain is directly related to how the pollen travels to the next flower. That’s why wind-pollinated …
Type: Blog
… crop plants (e.g., beans, peas, and soybeans) and many other economically important species, is the third largest plant family, with approximately 800 genera and over 19,000 species found in … of the world. In addition to being a source for economically important plants, the family is also important because legumes dominate many tropical ecosystems. An international team of legume specialists, working under the group name “Legume Phylogeny Working Group” is working to develop a better understanding of the diversity and evolutionary relationships in …
Type: Research
