Researchers led by Prof. Zhou Yihua from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) recently reported an identification of unprecedented xylan nanocompartments at the pit borders of xylem vessels in rice and Arabidopsis using super-resolution confocal microscopy.

Plants are an integral part of the water cycle. Certain plant traits, like rooting depth and water storage, can govern water availability across an entire ecosystem.

The flying spider-monkey tree fern, scientifically known as Alsophila spinulosa, is a species of tree fern widely distributed across Asia.

The world's first covalent organic framework sensors can detect pH changes in living plants, which can provide early warning of drought stress in plants up to 48 hours before traditional methods.

A foundational element of plant metabolism is the transport of water from the ground to the leaves. In most plants, this task is facilitated by xylem, a tissue whose structure provides hydraulic pathways that aid the water's upward movement. As plants face stressors such as drought, they respond by modifying their transport characteristics. Thus, an accurate understanding of their hydraulic properties is critical…

For the first time, researchers have characterized the genome arrangement of tree ferns, which sheds new insight into how ferns evolved.

The green world that we live in would not have been possible without hidden changes to the plant body over the last 400 million years. To grow beyond just centimeters tall outside of the wettest places on land, plants had to re-arrange their water-conducting tissues to keep them safe from drought.

Evergreen and deciduous species coexist in tropical dry forests and savannas. Previous studies have shown that they exhibit divergent strategies of drought tolerance and hydraulic safety under prolonged seasonal drought. However, the ecological strategies in hydraulic efficiency and mechanical strength (two major functions of the xylems of woody plant species) have not been well characterized for Chinese savanna…

Sometimes things are fine—until they're not. A boat capsizes. A bridge collapses. The stock market takes an extreme turn.

Microphones capture ultrasonic crackles from plants that are water-deprived or injured

In the Panamanian rainforest, scientists found the first known plant species to transform decaying tissue into a new source of nutrients.

How did they even evolve?

Sharpshooters are bugs that catapult their urine out into the world . These bugs drink huge amounts of plant sap, which is then propelled outward from a special liquid-shooter in…

New research fueled in part by citizen scientists reveals that the meadow spittlebug—known for the foamy, spit-like urine released by its nymphs—can feed on at least 1,300 species of host plants, more than twice the number of any other insect.

For the past decade MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) has supported interdisciplinary collaborations and high-risk, high-reward projects, enabling MIT faculty to pursue groundbreaking research that addresses some of the world's most pressing challenges facing our water and food systems.

Studying plant water use patterns to reveal plant hydrological niches in terrestrial plant communities is regarded as a breakthrough for understanding species combinations. However, how competition and coexistence work remain unanswered.

Do cicadas pee? They are actually very good at it

Thirsty cicadas produce more powerful jets of urine than some mammals

Gardeners are being asked to report balls of froth on plants this summer. Scientists are worried that it could spread a a plant disease known as Xyella, which can kill native plants.

The determination of plant vessel structure is fundamental for further understanding vascular function in different plant groups. Vessel dimorphism may be an important hydraulic strategy and ecological adaptation of plants. Previous studies have found that lianas, a common tropical and subtropical plant growth form, generally have larger vessel diameters than co-occurring trees. However, these results may differ…