Root hairs are a low-cost way to extend root surface area (RSA), water and nutrient acquisition. This study investigated to what extend variation exists for root hair formation in rice in dependence of genotype, phosphorus (P) supply, growth medium, and root type. In general, genotypic variation was found for three root hair properties: root hair length, density, and longevity. In low P nutrien...

Benchmarking cleaner production performance is an effective way of pollution control and emission reduction in coal-fired power industry. A benchmarking method using two-stage super-efficiency data envelopment analysis for coal-fired power plants is proposed – firstly, to improve the cleaner production performance of DEA-inefficient or weakly DEA-efficient plants, then to select the benchmark f...

Pesticide chemicals are an important component of modern agriculture. Through their use, plants and animals are exposed to pesticides directly and indirectly from transport through soil, water, and other environmental components. Pesticide chemicals which are absorbed by plants and animals undergo extensive biotransformation. Lipophilic compounds are converted to polar metabolites through a var...

A plasmodium of acellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a large single cell with many nuclei. Presented to a configuration of attracting and repelling stimuli a plasmodium optimizes its growth pattern and spans the attractants, while avoiding repellents, with efficient network of protoplasmic tubes. Such behaviour is interpreted as computation and the plasmodium as an amorphous growing b...

• The mineral nutrition of terrestrial carnivorous plants was investigated under glasshouse conditions to elucidate ecophysiological adaptations of this plant group. • In Drosera capillaris and D. capensis, absorption of N, P, K, and Mg from insects was relatively efficient (> 43%), whereas that of Ca was not. Carnivorous plants (D. capensis, D. peltata, D. scorpioides, and Dionaea muscipula) e...