Twining stems of plants are very common in extant tropical and subtropical forests, and the climbing growth habit of plants may be an evolutionary innovation and ecological adaptation to either closed, shady or open, edge environments. However, the origin of handedness in climbing plants remains unclear. Here we report a Miocene (ca. 16 million years ago) macrofossil from the Shanwang Formation...

Small organic molecules derived from higher plants have been one of the mainstays of cancer chemotherapy for approximately the past half a century. In the present review, selected single chemical entity natural products of plant origin and their semi-synthetic derivatives currently in clinical trials are featured as examples of new cancer chemotherapeutic drug candidates. Several more recently ...

1 Corresponding author: [email protected]; 352-392-9981 ABSTRACT: There are several alternative herbicides with different modes of action for control of invasive plants in natural areas. Of the four classes of herbicides commonly used on invasive plants in natural areas of Florida, the acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors, imazapyr, imazapic, and metsulfuron methyl, are the most likely...

Plants play a crucial role in foodstuff, medicine, industry, and environmental protection. The skill of recognising plants is very important in some applications, including conservation of endangered species and rehabilitation of lands after mining activities. However, it is a difficult task to identify plant species because it requires specialized knowledge. Developing an automated classificat...

Several stable isotope ratios have been measured in human skeletons to determine prehistoric diet. These include the isotopes of nitrogen, sulphur and strontium, which have been used to assess the importance of marine foods in human diets. The systematics of these isotopes in food chains are imperfectly understood, whereas that of carbon is quite well-known. Stable carbon isotope ratios (i.e., ...

Bordered pits play an important role in permitting water flow among adjacent tracheary elements in flowering plants. Variation in the bordered pit structure is suggested to be adaptive in optimally balancing the conflict between hydraulic efficiency (conductivity) and safety from air entry at the pit membrane (air seeding). The possible function of vestured pits, which are bordered pits with pr...

Regenerated forests now compose over half of the world's tropical forest cover and are increasingly important as providers of ecosystem services, freshwater, and biodiversity conservation. Much of the value and functionality of regenerating forests depends on the plant diversity they contain. Tropical forest diversity is strongly shaped by mutualistic interactions between plants and fruit-eatin...