Fungi are important for breaking down leaf litter and wood debris in forests, and some form symbiotic relationships with trees and shrubs, which helps nourish both the trees and the fungi. Mushrooms and other visible fungi are the fruiting bodies, or reproductive structures, of fungi that live in the ground. They release spores into the […]
Truffles are underground fruiting bodies, i.e. reproductive structures, of fungi that live in a symbiotic relationship with trees. They have been described as underground mushrooms. They produce spores, but unlike mushrooms and toadstools they cannot release them into the air in order to be dispersed to a new location, where they can grow. Therefore, truffles […]
Seagrasses are not seaweed. They are flowering plants, just like grasses that grow on land, but they grow on the sea beds in shallow coastal waters, and form an important food source and habitat for many sea creatures. Like land plants they need a good supply of nitrogen to grow well, and plants can usually […]
Jellyfish are ecosystem engineers reported in Hakai Magazine 19 February 2020 and bioRxiv 8 November 2019, doi.org/10.1101/784173. Tides and winds keep water flowing in most coastal regions, but in some sheltered areas among mangroves, tides and winds may not penetrate enough to keep the water moving. Scientists at University of South Florida who were studying […]
Coral movements disperse oxygen, according to a report in Inside JEB 9 August 2019 and Journal of Experimental Biology 9 August 2019 doi:10.1242/jeb.192518. Scientists in Israel have studied soft corals named Heteroxenia, which grow in the red sea. These corals have crown of feathery tentacles, arranged like a flower, that constantly fold and unfold in […]
Happiness is a warm flower, if you’re a beetle, according to a report in Nature, vol. 426, p243, 20 November 2003. Roger Seymour of the University of Adelaide, Australia put temperature sensors in the flowers of a tree dwelling philodendron from French Guyana. He found that during the night the flowers generated heat and maintained […]
Seed germination problem solved reports New Scientist 12 June 2004, p17. Scientists who have been trying to propagate the Javan ash tree, a rare rainforest tree from northern Australia and southeast Asia, have found the secret of success – a cassowary’s digestive system. Cassowaries are large flightless birds that live in the rainforests where they […]